AI: Stowaway did not pose any danger

Jaipur/New Delhi, Dec. 27: The Jaipur police has arrested Habib Husain (25), the youth who travelled as a stowaway from the Saudi city of Medina to Jaipur on an Air India flight on Friday by hiding in the toilet of the aircraft.

A day after the incident, Air India said it ordered an inquiry into the circumstances in which the man travelled from the Saudi city of Medina to Jaipur without a valid ticket and added that it had also “sought an explanation from the local ground handling agency in Medina as to how one of their employees managed to remain on board the aircraft after having performed his assigned duties on the aircraft”. However, the airline stated that Hussain’s presence on board did not threaten the safety of the passengers.

“We have arrested him under the Passport act. The investigations are still going on that includes all aspects including breach of security,” said Jaipur’s SP, Mr Biju George Joseph. Hussain was produced before a magistrate and remanded to custody.

“He has been booked for entering India without documents,” said Jaipur’s Inspector General of Police,B.L. Soni. According to the police, Hussain, who hails from Moradabad in UP, was working with a local company in Medina and assigned to work as sweeper at the Medina airport. The Jaipur Police is also understood to be probing whether there was any terror motive to the incident.

Meanwhile, Air India said it has so far not taken action against any of its cabin crew on the concerned Haj flight, saying that “prima facie”, they are not at fault. None of the cabin crew or pilots on the flight have been de-rostered. “However, if our enquiry shows that any of our cabin crew is at fault, then we will certainly take action then,” an Air India spokesperson said. The airline is also examining what needs to be done to prevent recurrence of such an incident in future. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is also probing the matter. But questions are being raised on how the cabin crew on the flight did not check the toilets—in which the man was hiding—before take-off. “It seems that there was some lapse on the part of the cabin crew who should have checked thoroughly whether anybody was inside the toilets before take-off. Everyone is supposed to be seated during take-off and the toilets are locked from outside by the cabin crew,” pointed out a cabin crew. However, an AI spokesperson said the cabin crew could not be faulted since the “number of passengers tallied with the number of boarding cards”.

However, the Jaipur police do not seem to be convinced. “We will also look into whether the Air India staff followed their charter of responsibilities or not. It was the crew members’ duty to deplane someone if that person entered the plane without documents,” said the Jaipur SP.