Passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur by an Air Asia flight from the Tiruchi international airport flew out on Thursday without reportedly being subjected to random checks by Customs officials. This took place, as the Customs officials were apparently denied entry inside the airport since their entry passes had not been renewed. The checks were said to have been done by the agencies of the airline concerned and security authorities.

The incident caused a flutter for some time at the airport in the morning when the Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur was ready for departure. Airport sources said there were about 160 passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur by the flight which was scheduled to depart at around 9.25 a.m.

The sources said some Customs officials on morning duty were reportedly not allowed entry into the terminal building by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel guarding the airport as their entry passes had expired on December 31. The sources said the Customs officials had applied for renewal of passes earlier.

The sources said the duty Customs officials could not proceed inside the terminal building for nearly two hours as the security personnel wanted them to produce written communication from the authorities concerned in view of the expiry of their entry passes.

In the meantime, passengers who had cleared other formalities boarded the flight after being checked by the security agency of the airline concerned and at the Security Hold Area.

The issue of entry pass was sorted out later with the intervention of the officials of Airports Authority of India.

Meanwhile, Airports Authority of India authorities said the old passes had been extended for few days. The new passes for Customs officials were expected to be issued soon.