While international airlines are leaving no stone unturned to tackle terror in the skies, India’s elite security force, the National Security Guard (NSG), are literally begging for a modern aircraft to carry out anti-hijack drills.

These black cat commandos, who will be dispatched at a minute’s notice to take on terrorists and save passengers in the event of a hijack, have to make do with a smaller, outdated aircraft provided by Air India.

Not for them the Boeings and the Airbuses that crowd the skies with billions of fliers daily. No airlines except Air India and sometimes Jet Airways have come forward to provide their aircraft to this elite security force.

The Black Cat commandos have written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking help on the issue. They want MHA to put pressure on private airlines to provide them modern aircraft.

The NSG has discussed the matter at high-level meetings with the heads of various agencies, but not a single modern aircraft has come their way so far.

A source at the NSG said airlines are busy making profits and are not bothered about the safety of fliers. Now, the elite force has approached the Union home ministry to put pressure on airlines to provide it with modern aircraft.

NSG commandos have been specially trained to tackle hostage situations in any type of aircraft, but anti-hijack drills are an absolute necessity.

Seeking help

“For almost five years the NSG has been using an old aircraft provided by the Air India which is parked near Gate number 15 of the IGI airport. On rare occasions, Jet Airways provide aircraft for mock drill. The matter has been discussed by NSG top officials in various anti-hijacking committee meetings but to no avail. Now, we have approached the Union Home Ministry to immediately provide us latest and different types of aircraft to carry out antihijack drills,” a senior NSG official told Mail Today.

According to an official of another security agency, who is a member in the anti-hijacking committee, every time the NSG, the CISF or other security agencies request airlines to provide aircraft for drills, airlines refuse them immediately without giving a thought to the possible consequence.

The NSG has a plan in place for every aircraft in case there is a hijack. But drills are necessary to hone skills.

The National Security Guard can be dispatched at a moment's notice to save passengers in the event of a hijack.

Mock drills

“NSG teams want to carry out mock drills inside different kinds of aircraft, like Boeing’s latest aircraft, for the security of the nation. International airlines have these planes but they have their excuses ready. They say they do not have the time to spare a single aircraft for this purpose. All the NSG needs is an hour to carry out the drill every once in a while,” a member of the anti-hijacking committee said.

On their part, airlines argue that their schedules are tightly packed.

“It is not possible to spare an aircraft to the NSG as we have pre-decided schedules with every aircraft. If we start sparing planes for mock drills, passengers would be at the receiving hand as they will face inordinate delays,” an airline official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Mail Today.

Every alternate week, NSG commandos perform mock drills inside an outdated Air India aircraft.

There is a senior official to keep check on the performance of every commando of the NSG. Later, this official prepares a report and superior officials analyse it to decide how to enhance the performance of the black cats. If only they had a proper plane!

The NSG is an elite force set up in 1984 to tackle all forms of terrorism in the country. The NSG commandos are specially equipped and trained to deal with specific situations and are used only in exceptional situations.

The NSG was modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and GSG-9 of Germany. It is a task-oriented force and has two complementary elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG) comprising Army personnel and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG).

Air India jet makes emergency landing in US

A Mumbai-bound Air India flight from Newark Liberty International Airport in the US with over 250 people on board was forced to return and make an emergency landing on Sunday due to a serious engine problem, sources said.

The pilot, however, managed to make a safe landing.

“The flight had taken off for Mumbai around 1650 hours (US time) and landed back at Newark (US) after being airborne for about two hours due to violent vibrations in one of the engines of the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft,” an Air India source said.

An Air India spokesperson confirmed the incident and said the passengers are being adjusted in its Delhi flight. The aircraft was at a height of 29,000 feet when the vibrations occurred, the sources said.

After the plane landed, one of the blades of its engine was found to have fractured due to stress, and this resulted in the violent vibrations.

Sources said the pilot’s prompt action had averted a major disaster.

The pilot had to dump around 60 tonnes of fuel and keep the engine idle for a safe landing under the serious situation, sources added.

Police to monitor airline staff

By Ankur Sharma in New Delhi

The Delhi Police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have decided to keep an eye when various airlines conduct checks on their employees at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The frisking procedure will be monitored either through CCTV cameras or by CISF personnel themselves.

The move comes after senior staff were found to be helping juniors carry out baggage theft. (Picture for representation.)

The move comes after senior staff were found helping juniors, who were involved in baggage theft cases at the airport.

With thefts on the rise at the city airport, a security meeting was held to discuss the matter.

Sources said both the CISF and Delhi Police officers agreed on this new way to curb thefts at IGI airport.

Sources said security agencies decided to prepare a plan to check the rising number of thefts after several MPs highlighted the issue recently.

“During a security meeting, this matter was discussed and as a pilot project, this new initiative will soon be introduced at Delhi airport. If this would help agencies to control theft cases, then this procedure will be introduced at various airports across India,” a senior official posted at Delhi airport said.

Last year, the CISF had apprehended a cleaning staff member belonging to a private agency for stealing a laptop from the luggage of a passenger onboard an international airline.