Inebriated autorickshaw driver gatecrashes into Rajkot airport

Rajkot: In a major security breach, a rickshaw driver reached the apron area of Rajkot airport by crashing his vehicle into the VIP gate minutes before the flight to Bengaluru was to take off on Sunday.
At around 3pm, 30-year-old Deepak Jethwa broke the first gate with his rickshaw and then opened the VIP gate by alighting from the vehicle, sources confirmed to TOI.
In an inebriated state, Jethwa was even shouting 'bomb bomb' after which the special operations group (SOG), bomb disposal squad and dog squad were rushed to the airport. Thorough checking was carried out including that of the rickshaw but nothing was found, said police.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) saw him breaking the gate and caught him in the apron area.
Airport director Diganta Borah told TOI, "The CISF should have been more alert. Also, the gate was quite weak as it shattered after being hit by the rickshaw. We will ask the CISF to up the vigil and strengthen the gate."
Borah claimed that the rickshaw driver did not reach the runway but was caught near the apron area.
Airport director Diganta Borah claimed that the rickshaw driver did not reach the runway but was caught near the apron area.
The flight to Bengaluru, which was scheduled to depart at 3:05pm, was delayed for at least a couple of hours.
Sources said that the number of CISF personnel and local police is evidently more only during VIP movements.
The airport is located in an area having a high-density population and large number of slum dwellings.
Gandhigram police station inspector SS Rane said, "We are in the process of lodging an official complaint and waiting for CISF personnel to give their statement regarding the incident. For now, we have detained Jethwa."