Chennai:
In the backdrop of the recent arrests of a contract driver of a private airline company, while trying to smuggle banned narcotic ephedrine, by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials and a supervisor working at the air cargo complex for stealing two imported Blackberry mobile phones, the airport police have installed e-beat devices at 11 points on the sprawling premises to intensify patrolling.
"While the Central Industrial Security Force is responsible for security inside the airport building, we want to strengthen our patrolling outside, especially in areas such as ATM centres and cargo entry gates," airport police inspector D Arockia Raveendran told Express.
On Wednesday, it was at the cargo complex that Mahesh Kumar (23), recruited by a private agency for the post of supervisor in the import section, was apprehended by a CISF guard after he was noticed sporting bulge pockets. On checking them, the guard found a Blackberry mobile phone in each pocket, the inspector said.
The supervisor had drilled holes into a large pallet carrying cell phones imported from China and removed two Blackberry mobile phones, costing Rs 19,000 each, discarded their boxes and pocketed them. It also came to light that he stole a Samsung mobile phone, costing Rs 10,000, in August.
Introduction of e-beat would ensure that the night patrol teams maintained vigil in all sensitive areas at regular intervals. "Otherwise, the patrolmen will get away by making false entries in the register," Raveendran said. "The devices will be installed at 11 strategic points, where the police personnel will swipe their card and register their presence."
The inspector identified the Air Traffic Control tower entry gate, entry gates 5 and 6 and State Bank of India's ATM centre as some of the points where the device had been installed. It had also been fixed outside the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security office, entry and exit gates of the airport, the car park and the residential area that has 200 houses.