Mumbai: In the last six months, city airport officials have reported at least 10 instances where people entered the terminal building without a valid ticket.
According to airport officials, in a few cases legitimate passengers had entered the terminal building along with their relatives who did not have valid tickets. For this purpose, they had used fake or cancelled tickets. However, security agency personnel noticed these trespassers only when they were exiting the building, said officials.
According to an airport official, sometimes people are eager to see the state-of-the-art T2, and enter the building without a valid ticket. These tickets could be those that were booked and then cancelled.
The security guards of central industrial security force (CISF), which verifies the passenger ticket before allowing them inside the building, only check the ticket printout and photo identity proof of passengers. There is no provision to check the authenticity of the ticket at the gate, said officials.
The validity of a ticket can be checked only at the airline counter by the ground staff. An official who did not wish to be named said a person who enters the terminal building without a valid ticket is booked under sections for trespassing of the Indian Penal Code.
However, as the offence is bailable, they pay a fine to the police and go scot-free. The offence has become common, the official added.
Earlier, on April 7, a person had entered the terminal building with a cancelled ticket to send off his relatives. On February 16, a man named Ahmed had entered the building with a forged e-ticket to see off his relative.
A police official said his department had written a letter earlier this year to the city airport authorities and requested them to put in place stringent procedures at the airport entrance in order to keep out trespassers.
