NEW DELHI: Four Air India staff and one passenger, suspected to be involved in human trafficking using forged documents, have been nabbed at Terminal-3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said on Thursday.
On Wednesday around 1.15pm, CISF staff at IGI Airport noticed suspicious activities of a passenger, Diljot Singh, sitting in the check-in area near departure gate number 5. He was supposed to travel from Delhi to Birmingham by Air India flight which was to depart at 1.15pm.
"Singh was diverted to the random checking point, but a thorough examination of his baggage yielded no suspicious items. However, Singh's failure to board the flight raised concerns. Asked on why he did not board the flight, he did not reply satisfactorily," said a CISF official, adding his movements were tracked through CCTV footage.
Upon investigation, it came to light that Singh approached F-11 check-in counter for checking formalities and after check-in he proceeded towards immigration, where he was stopped for possessing doubtful travelling documents and Immigration staff instructed him to bring the concerned Airline staff for clearing the doubts.
"On reviewing CCTV footage, it came to notice that the passenger neither went to check-in counter nor came back to Immigration counter. His check-in formalities were done at crew counter F-11 by Air India staff Rohan Verma, who is a customer service associate (CSA) on the basis of wrong documents. He was travelling on seamen letter (authorized to work in ship only)," said a CISF official.
Verma admitted to having checked in Singh and two more passengers on forged documents, for which he took Rs 80,000, CISF said, adding, "Verma said he was directed by his colleague Mohammad Jahangir who is CSA at Air India SATS. Jahangir admitted that he asked his colleague to complete the check-in formalities of the passengers on forged documents as he was offered Rs 40,000 per passenger by a Mahipalpur resident. Two other AISATS staff Yash and Akshay Narang also admitted their involvement in the case". Two passengers, who reportedly travelled abroad using fake documents, are being brought back.
CISF said the suspects have been handed over to Delhi Police and an FIR has been registered.
Meanwhile, no immediate response was received from Air India in the matter.
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