Move followed panicked realisation that Finnish national had boarded craft with luggage without being checked

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel asked a Finnair aircraft (AY 030) flight to Helsinki to return to its bay yesterday, seconds before take off, after they realised that a Finnish national, had gotten onboard with baggage, without being checked.

The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 11 am was only cleared for take off at 1.18 pm. CISF sleuths realised that Whittemar, who had been deported by the immigration department because his visa was not found to be in order, had not been checked by them.  

"An important CISF stamp was found missing on Whittemar's documents," CISF senior commandant Sanjay Prakash said.

Stopped twice

"After the checking procedure, the aircraft was cleared for departure, but was once again halted by the CISF. This time, the CISF insisted that the aircraft be brought to check if there were other passengers who had also boarded it without a check. It would have been a serious security lapse," a Mumbai International Airport Ltd official said. 

 "This incident points towards lapse in the security procedure at the airport. Once a passenger on any pretext comes to the non-security area, he should be liable for all the mandatory checks and clearances," aviation expert Vipul Saxena said.