Chennai airport gets new equipment to check unclaimed baggage

Chennai, July 26 (UNI) The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon install a new equipment imported from Germany at both the Kamaraj Domestic Airport and Anna International Airport here to detect explosives and narcotics from unclaimed baggages.

AAI sources said that on an average, 30 items of unclaimed baggage were found on the airport premises per month.

The sources said that under the existing system, whenever an unclaimed baggage was found on the premises, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad was summoned to check it for explosive substances.

However, once the new equipment started functioning, their job would become easy.

Explaining the functioning of the Rs 40 lakh equipment, fitted with a monitor, they said whenever an unclaimed baggage was found, one had to move a baton, fixed with a swab made of small round chemically treated paper, over the baggage and insert the paper into the equipment to get the result. A single sampling swab could be used 20 times, they added.

The sources said they had decided to import nearly 200 detectors and the Chennai airport would get at least 12 of them.

UNI