Passes have been issued only to five officials out of 20
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Hyderabad: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security of India has denied permanent passes to Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths at the RGI Airport making the enforcement agency's job to nab smugglers difficult.
Passes have been issued only to five officials out of 20 despite repeated reminders to BCAS, according to DRI sources. The DRI says it's very difficult to trap smugglers as GMR staff have got access to all exit and entry points and have all-area access passes.
“We have been writing to BCAS requesting entry and exit passes for at least 20 staffers. Even the 15 passes given to DRI earlier have not been renewed. Top DRI officials went personally to BCAS and sought more passes, but it was in vain,” said an official of DRI.
“Instead we were asked to take daily passes depending on requirement. But GMR staff will immediately know that as we have to apply to them. As GMR staffers are involved how can secret operations be carried out?” asked an official.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence alleged that most GMR security staffers have managed to acquire all-area entry and exit passes at the airport. A few months ago, DRI staffers went to Visakapatnam to carry out an anti-red sanders smuggling operation. During that time only one official here had a pass. The other officials in Hyderabad did not have a valid pass. “How can just one person check an organised racket?”
“On Monday, when we caught two GMR security staffers and a smuggler we had only five officers with passes inside, but we need 15 men to man all the gates. It was not possible, so we caught the accused at the parking space. The failure of the CISF to stop GMR staff involved in smuggling gold out is being probed,” said an official.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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