Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai airports were put on high alert following a threat of hijacking at these airports.

A “high alert” means that the security personnel enhance the security checks on passengers before they board an aircraft.

Anonymous email

Confirming the threat, airline sources said that an anonymous email was received late on Saturday night saying that attempts will be made to hijack aircraft from the three cities.

Reportedly the mail was sent from Hyderabad by a person who had overheard a conversation at lunch. It stated that a group of 23 musicians were heard discussing how they would fan out to these three airports.

Following the mail, as is the laid down security procedure, a meeting was held with all the stakeholders including airlines, security personnel and airport managers to beef up security and ensure that nothing untoward happened at the airports in the three cities.

While security checks on passengers before boarding an aircraft are routine, during a high alert the screening is done more vigorously and passengers may also be subjected to additional screening before boarding.

Incidentally at some hyper sensitive airports like Srinagar, multi-point security checks for passengers are considered normal.