In a recent major security breach at Delhi airport, a middle-aged man managed to gain entry to the airside – the area directly involved in arrival and departure of aircraft – without any authorised pass and reached the tarmac before being caught. He was found hiding in a drain near the runway and was first spotted by a patrol vehicle.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is yet to find out how the man was able to reach such a sensitive area. “He had a two-year-old entry pass, which suggests he had worked at the airport earlier. We are probing the matter and scanning CCTV footage to ascertain the sequence of events,” said a senior CISF official. An inquiry has been ordered, and according to the police the man is mentally unstable.

A couple of days later, another breach occurred wherein a man crossed two layers of security check at the cargo terminal and was stopped at the third checkpoint, next to the airside. In March, a 16-year-old boy had scaled the boundary wall to reach the airside.