NEW DELHI, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - Indian Civil Aviation Ministry has suspended some ground handling officers and security supervisors who were responsible for the security lapse in the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's standby plane, where a defused grenade was found earlier today.
According to the Spokesperson of the Civil Aviation Ministry Uday Moray, "Civil Aviation Minister will review the airport security next week with senior officials of concerned organizations to ensure no security lapse occurs in future."
A diffused grenade was found on Friday night in an Air India plane which was kept as a standby aircraft for Narendra Modi during his visit to the United States at the Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The plane was released for commercial operation when Prime Minister Modi returned after the US visit. Air India aircraft Boeing - 747 was sent on a Delhi-Mumbai-Hyderabad-Jeddah flight. On landing at Jeddah airport on Friday night, the Air India crew found a diffused grenade inside the business class.
"Air India flight A I965 of 3rd October 2014 operated on the sector Mumbai-Hyderabad-Jeddah. On landing at Jeddah, cabin crew found a suspicious object and informed the concerned authorities. After screening the aircraft and the object which was found to be a plastic wrapper the Jeddah airport security cleared the aircraft for further operations thereafter," Air India official statement reads.
Indian security services are currently investigating the incident.
However, according to the Times of India's sources, the incident simply could have been an exercise planned by the Indian intelligence to check the alertness of national aviation security.
