NEW DELHI: A scare was triggered at
the Indira Gandhi International airport in the wee hours on Friday after a sound
similar to gunshots were reportedly heard from the facility. (
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The
control room of the CISF received a call at around 1.10 am from passengers that
they heard sound of gunshots from one of the gates of international departure
lounge of the airport, official said.
"We received a call that some
passengers heard a sound similar to two gunshots, but there were no
eyewitnesses. No evidence has so far come up to suggest that it was a firing and
we cannot confirm it as a gunshot," Udayan Banerjee, DIG, CISF and incharge of
security at Delhi airport said.
"After the sound, the CISF and Delhi
Police deployment swung into action and intensified the checking at the
airport," he said adding the passenger movement is normal and arrival and
departure is also functioning smoothly.
Delhi police spokesperson
Rajan Bhagat said, "a call was received that three to four rounds of firing has
taken place at the airport but no one was injured."
"We are not yet
sure whether any firing actually took place. We are verifying the facts," Bhagat
added.
CISF officials said all preventive measures have been taken
and a security drill has been put in place.
Airports across the
country were on Thursday put on high alert in the wake of intelligence reports
that terrorists from Pakistan or Afghanistan may strike using a hijacked
aircraft even as the Indian Air Force said it was ready to counter a 9/11-type
aerial attack on New York.
Additional contingents of CISF and police
inside and outside the Delhi airport has already been deployed, authorities
said.