Posted on 11/09/2001 5:08:16 AM PST by NC Conservative
Laden planning plane attacks on Delhi
Nepal has imposed strict security around the Kathmandu international airport after receiving information that a cell linked to Osama Bin Laden was planning to hijack a Singaporean airliner and crash it into New Delhi, officials said Friday.
Chennai police told Nepalese authorities they had "credible information" a Bin Laden cell was planning such an attack, said Jaya Diwan, general secretary of Nepal's foreign airline operators' association.
"We are taking precautionary measures so that this kind of ugly thing does not happen," Diwan said.
Diwan said Nepal had received all its information about the plot from India.
Officials said that although the threat was made to Singapore Airlines, which runs flights from Singapore to Madras to Kathmandu, all air carriers in Kathmandu were being told to take extra precautions.
The Singapore Airlines flight from Madras to Kathmandu was due to arrive here in the early afternoon Friday.
Bishnu Subedi, executive secretary of the Board of Airlines Representatives Nepal (BARN). said they received a letter from Chennai civil aviation authorities warning them of the plan.
"The letter written by the civil aviation authority in Chennai, warns that Bin Laden's men are currently in Kathmandu and there is a possibility of hijacking of an airplane from Nepalese sky and hitting some important targets in New Delhi," Subedi said. "The aviation authority in Chennai received the threats from some unknown people. The airport security has informed BARN about the letter and we have circulated the information to all the 13 carriers flying from Kathmandu," Subedi said.
"The threat may be real or a hoax, but we must take precautionary measures at such a sensitive time," he added.
Managing Director of the Royal Nepal Airlines Rajesh Raj Dali said the airlines has tightened its security after receiving the threat.
"In fact, we have already intensified security watch after the September 11 incident," he said, adding that the civil aviation authority has taken necessary steps to tighten the airport security including ladder point frisking.
All passengers entering Kathmandu airport were being thoroughly checked, officials said.
The Kathmandu Post also quoted an anonymous letter received by the authorities as saying that Bin Laden's men were already in Nepal's capital and planned to hijack a plane and crash it into one of three targets in India -- the US embassy in New Delhi, the office of the Prime Minister or his residence.
The English-language daily said the handwritten letter was mailed from Chennai, and warned authorities of a "possible plot by members of Osama Bin Laden's group" to hijack an airliner flying from Kathmandu.
The Union Home Ministry in New Delhi said it had no information about such a threat.
Kedar Koirala, a senior security official at the Tribhuvan International Airport here said body searches of passengers had been intensified and baggage was being physically searched after an X-ray examination. "A security search inside the aircraft is also being conducted when necessary," Koirala added.
Nepal and India were among the countries that gave early support to the US-led strikes on Afghanistan, which is sheltering Saudi-born Bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 suicide hijack attacks on the United States.
Kathmandu has also pledged to open its airspace and refuelling facilities to US aircraft conducting raids on targets in Afghanistan.
Kashmiri militants hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December 1999. The plane was on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi. A passenger was killed in the hijack and India freed three jailed militants.
This is good, however, they need to check all employees too. There could be a potential hijacker planted among them.
Osama men planning to re-enact Sept 11 in Delhi
Security at Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu has been tightened following information that Osama bin Laden's men are planning to hijack a plane from Nepalese airspace to hit targets in New Delhi possibly the Prime Minister's office or the residence.
"The letter written by the Civil Aviation Authority in Chennai, warns that bin Laden's men are currently in Kathmandu and there is a possiblility of hijacking of an airplane from Nepalese sky and hitting some important targets in New Delhi," according to executive secretary of the Board of Airlines Representatives Nepal (BARN) Bishnu Subedi.
The targets could be the Prime Minister's office and his residence and the US embassy in New Delhi, he said.
"The aviation authority in Chennai received the threats from some unknown people. The airport security has informed BARN about the letter and we have circulated the information to all the 13 carriers flying from Kathmandu," Subedi said.
"The threat may be real or a hoax, but we must take precautionary measures at such a sensitive time," he added.
Managing Director of the Royal Nepal Airlines Rajesh Raj Dali said the airlines has tightened its security after receiving the threat.
"In fact, we have already intensified security watch after the September 11 incident," he said, adding the Civil Aviation Authority has taken necessary steps to tighten the airport security including ladder point frisking.
The Airport Authority has been taking anti-hijacking and anti-sabotage measures, said a senior officer at the RNAC.
It may be recalled that an Indian Airlines flight originating from Kathmandu (IC-184) was hijacked by Kashmiri militants in December 1999 to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Many people might say that this would draw more Muslim kooks into the area but lets think about that for a minute. The "mujahadeen" are now fighting in Afghanistan, in Kosovo, in Chechnya and to a lesser degree in places like Somalia.
These guys are not the Chinese army they have a limited number men and materiel to spread around. Speaking of China, I guess they could get drawn into such a war too. Yikes.
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