NEW DELHI: Don't leave lighters in your hand baggage or power banks in your checked-in baggage at Indian airports -- unless you want them to be confiscated. Despite warnings, nearly 25,000 prohibited items are seized across 131 airports in India, of which lighters and power banks top the list.
"Lighters are the top confiscated item in hand baggage while power banks are seized most often in checked-in baggage. The other confiscated items include batteries and laptop in checked-in baggage and scissors, knives and liquids in hand baggage," said Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) Zulfiquar Hasan, adding that foolproof security is essential for growth of the civil aviation sector.
Every day, across airports in India, nearly eight lakh pieces of hand baggage and five lakh pieces of checked-in baggage are screened. The latest data released by BCAS reveals that the seizure of these 25,000 prohibited items creates a diversion for security personnel, leading to additional screening time which causes inordinate delays.
"Time and again we make passengers aware of prohibited items. The government is committed to phase-wise introduction of body scanners at all major airports in the next 18 months. Security is everyone’s responsibility from screeners to cleaners, from industry leaders to frontline workers and from taxi drivers to those working in airport retail outlets," added Hasan.
The BCAS is going to make passengers aware of the prohibited items during the course of the coming week which they have named Aviation Security Culture Week.
The average number of passengers travelling daily through the 131 airports across India is around 10 lakh. At the security check points, nearly 11,000 screeners are deployed who screen nearly five lakh departing passengers with around 9 lakh handbags, according to the BCAS.
"To help the screeners, around 600 baggage X ray machines and 1000 door frame metal detectors (DFMDs) are deployed at security checkpoints of airports across India," added Hasan.
Meanwhile, security staff at airports sometimes comes across people carrying weapons too.
"In many cases, weapons are carried by officials who have licences (including members of the military, paramilitary and police) and bring them along inadvertently. However, they are admonished and also penalised," said a source.