BENGALURU: An individual with a fabricated ticket was caught red-handed at the Kempegowda International Airport on Thursday when he went to send off a batch of 50 passengers to Jeddah. A similar incident took place last month where a businessman edited a flight ticket to see off his pregnant wife.
According to airport sources, the passengers were to board Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV 3897 to Jeddah at 3.50pm. “The individual, Arbaz Quraishi, a resident of Coffee Board Colony, was exiting through gate 8 when he was stopped by CISF personnel. He had a ticket with him. On crosschecking with the airline, the specific ticket was found to be fake and the airport police was informed,” he said.
A police official said that at face value it appears as if the travel agency had deliberately used this individual in the interest of their customers. “Our initial interrogation shows that the person caught could be innocent. His agency had sent him to the airport with the ticket bearing his name and asked him to see off their customers. He appears to be ignorant that it was illegal to enter an airport to send off people.”
Quraishi has been booked under Sections 465, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code for forging documents. He was sent to police custody afterwards.
According to airport regulations, no flyer booked for travel can walk out of an airport without a valid reason and authorisation from the airline.