IAF’s mock hijack creates real anxiety

AMID intelligence inputs indicating possibility of air hijacks and increased perception of terror attacks in Gujarat, a routine Indian Air Force drill at Jamnagar was taken to be an actual hijack on Saturday.

AMID intelligence inputs indicating possibility of air hijacks and increased perception of terror attacks in Gujarat, a routine Indian Air Force (IAF) drill at Jamnagar was taken to be an actual hijack on Saturday.

Scores of people and local mediapersons had congregated outside the airbase and the adjoining city airport to catch a glimpse of the “emergency operations”.

It was only in the evening that they were convinced that the “hijack” was part of a mock drill.

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Defence spokesperson Satish Menon, said, “It was a routine anti-hijack drill that the IAF carries out periodically.” Refusing to divulge information on the drill on grounds of strategic reasons, he added, “All I can tell you at this point is that it was a successfully conducted drill.”

The exercise begun in the morning and continued for several hours in the evening.

Four fire fighters of the Jamnagar Corporation, along with police personnel, officials of the district administration and Indian Army participated in the drill.

“A committee has been appointed to review the preparedness of security agencies in case of a hijack,” Menon added.