The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Monday said that around 25,000 prohibited items are seized every day by security agencies from air travelers at various airports across the country. Power banks were the most seized of these banned items. Director General, BCAS, Zulfiqar Hasan inaugurated the Aviation Safety Culture Week-2023 at BCAS Headquarters in Delhi.

He said, 'Every day we check about eight lakh handbags and five lakh check-in baggage at all airports in the country. “We find around 25,000 prohibited items during checking. In this process, the security personnel have to spend their time and the time of the passengers is also wasted.

BCAS said the confiscated restricted items most often found in check-in baggage are power banks (44 percent), lighters (19 percent), loose batteries (18 percent) and laptops (11 percent). Lighters (26 percent), scissors (22 percent), knives (16 percent) and liquids (14 percent) are found in hand baggage. Hasan said foolproof security is essential for the development of the aviation sector.

“We cannot tolerate even a single mistake and that is why we have organized a week-long program to educate people. He said that it is important to do this because India has the largest number of first-time travelers in the world.

Elaborating on the emerging threats to the Indian aviation sector with 3,300 flights daily and 4.8 lakh air passengers, Hasan said cyber threats, including drones, are new threats to the sector. "We are working on all fronts for the safety of the passengers. Along with the safety of the passengers boarding the flight, we are equally concerned about the safety of the people in the landside area of the airport," he added.

The BCAS chief informed that full-body scanners will be installed at airports in the country in a phased manner. The process is expected to begin within a year at major airports. He said that there would be no privacy issue in this regard as it has already been resolved all over the world. If a passenger has a health condition that prevents him or her from using this type of scanner, other options will be available. It will start with the installation of full body scanners at major airports like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Aviation security watchdog BCAS chief Zulfiqar Hasan on Monday said any unruly passenger should face the law of the land and no such passenger should be let off without punishment. Incidents of misbehavior with passengers on flights have come to the fore in the recent past. Hasan told a briefing here that rowdy passengers were a serious issue and FIRs should be lodged against them.