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'Various people failed at various stages'

Former chief of the elite National Security Guards, Ramdeo Tyagi, said more money needs to be spent on security at various airports in the country. Ramdeo Tyagi, former chief of the elite National Security Guards (NSG), today said the hijacking of Indian Airlines Airbus on Friday was a result of a series of security lapses.

''Security has not failed at a particular point...a series of security lapses resulted in the hijacking of the aircraft,'' Tyagi told UNI.

The Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was on its way to Delhi from Kathmandu when it was hijacked by Islamic militants over Lucknow and flown to Kandahar after stopovers at Amritsar and Dubai.

''Various people have failed at various stages,'' Tyagi said and added that every airline should have its own security at the airport.

''How could this happen,'' he said, reacting to reports that one person, believed to be among the five hijackers, were issued five boarding passes by the IA staff at Kathmandu.

Tyagi, who also headed Mumbai police during his eventful career, said as per media reports the hijackers boarded the IA aircraft after alighting from a Pakistan International Airlines plane. ''This shows that there has been a series of security lapses -- and not just one,'' he said.

The highly-decorated officer also stressed on the need to upgrade security at airports and said that advanced machines need to be installed. ''Seven simple security devices are either absent at several airports across the country or they are not functioning,'' he regretted.

''More money needs to be spent in such major aspects of security,'' he said

Tyagi when asked whether a commando operation could help rescue passengers at this stage, said: ''The decision has to be taken by the Crisis Management Group and the prime minister. We (at NSG) have specially trained commandos for such operations and they are highly competent. These commandos are drawn from police, para-military forces and military and they undergo rigorous training,'' he said.

UNI

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