Chennai: A gun was found inside a cargo consignment headed for a Delhi-bound flight during checking at the Chennai airport on Tuesday. Officials had said that the explosive detection machine at the airport had first suspected the material inside the cargoto be an explosive.
According to police, a gun-like object was detected in an air cargo parcel from Chennai. The officials involved in aviation security said the parcel was detected around midnight on Tuesday and it was meant to be loaded on a Delhi-bound Indigo airlines flight.
The cargo clearing agents and security staff of the airline called in the security personnel who contacted a private cargo booking agency in Alandur to enquire about the parcel.
And since there was no response from the other side, the officials broke open the parcel and found the gun.
The gun was handed over to the airport police for further investigation. Based on a complaint by Indigo officials, the airport police registered a case and asked the manager of the private cargo booking office
to appear for an investigation.
On Wednesday, the manager who arrived at the station for investigation said he was not aware of the presence of a gun inside the parcel. He said the parcel was booked by a regular client Venkat Raj Chowdry of Delhi.
Venkat, who is an 'air gun' dealer, had mistakenly sent the parcel to Chennai instead of sending it to Chandigarh by train.
The manager said that Venkat had asked him to send the parcel to Chandigarh.
He also argued that his client has a proper licence for the gun. Unmoved by his answers, the airport police registered a CSR and sent the weapon to the Government forensic lab to find out where it was an 'air gun' as alleged by the manager. Police said they are waiting for the forensic report to proceed with the case.
