Delhi Airport junks subpar body scanner; has no replacement
The Indira Gandhi International in Delhi has done away with the body scanner machine installed at terminal 3 due to its subpar performance. "It has multiple technical loopholes and hence, we decided to remove it following recommendations from CISF," an official said. However, with no replacement, officials are back to scanning passengers through metal detectors, which is not considered foolproof.
The Indira Gandhi International airport has done away with the body scanner machine installed at terminal 3 due to its below-par performance. However, with no replacement at hand, security officials are back to manual scanning of passengers through metal detectors, which is not foolproof."We had installed a body scanner machine (Pro Vision 2) to detect concealed objects made of metallic and non-metallic materials. During the trial period, the machine did not give the desired result," said an official of the Airports Authority of India."It has multiple technical loopholes and hence, we decided to remove it following recommendations from CISF," the official added.SMUGGLERS CONCEALING CONTRABAND INSIDE THEIR BODIESMultiple security agencies deployed at IGI observed that smuggling of gold, silver and contrabands have been on the rise since last year with passengers concealing them inside their bodies.On November 15, 2016, two drug traffickers from Afganistan were arrested from T3 after the health of one of them named Gulam Rabani deteriorated. He was offloaded and admitted in AIIMS where doctors found 57 capsules of heroine concealed in his stomach."Rabani had managed to dodge security agencies at T3 and boarded the flight. If his health would not have deteriorated, he could have managed to smuggle top quality heroine worth Rs 2 crore out of the country. The incident was an eye opener for us," the official said.Also read: Gold rush at airports after demonetisation