Mad Monkey: Why oh why?

Why all this nonsense? All that I want to do is go from point A to point B. Fast. And, I’m paying for it. Why must I land up at the airport three hours early for a two-hour flight? Why should I stop my car so many times and get checked? Why so many checkings – on the road, at the gate, at the counter, at the interminable queues, at the aircraft? What is the thing about shoes? And my water bottle, and my shaving gel and my torchlight …? Who decides all these ridiculous things? And why? 

There is actually a reason all these things happen. Not all of it started in one go by some Mad Monkey Kung Fu who got up one day and said, “Hey, from today on, I’ll really put all air travellers to all possible types of torture!” 

On December 17, 1973, a Pan Am aircraft (flight 110) was attacked by PLO terrorists on the tarmac in Rome with weapons removed from hand luggage, killing 44 and destroying the aircraft. This led to pre-flight checks of aircrafts. In 1973, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States issued an emergency rule mandating screening of all passengers and hand baggage. Other countries followed the same in short order. 

Efforts to develop explosives detection equipment followed a bomb explosion through dynamite sticks placed in lockers at La Guardia airport in New York on December 29, 1975 near the Trans World Airlines (TWA) baggage reclaim terminal killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74 others. After this, FAA increased its efforts to develop the explosives detection capabilities and minimise the chances of “bombs in bags.”

On June 23, 1985, Air India flight 182 on Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route disintegrated mid-air over the Atlantic killing all 329 people aboard. This is considered “one of the worst (tragedies) in the aviation history.” In just an hour from then, another bomb on another Air India flight from Tokyo to Mumbai went off during luggage transfer at the Tokyo airport and killed two baggage handlers. These two were coordinated attacks through bombs in registered baggage which was unaccompanied. This incident led to stricter baggage screening, baggage identification and baggage reconciliation by the passengers. Unaccompanied baggage started getting discouraged or screened vigorously. 

On December 27, 1985, there were simultaneous attacks at airports in Rome and Vienna where El Al (Israeli airline) passengers were targeted in the check-in area of the airports. In the attacks, 19 civilians and four terrorists were killed and 140 civilians were injured. This incident led to armed guards being deployed in check-in areas. In India, armed personnel of the access control unit are deployed not only in the check-in area but also on the concourse foyer before entry into the terminal building. Some airports also have Quick Response Teams (QRTs) outside the airports. 

The 1980s witnessed increasing number of sabotage of civil aircrafts by terrorists. In 1985, there were 13 such acts killing 473 people. On December 21, 1988, a Boeing 747 aircraft of Pan Am airways flight PA 103 met with explosion over Scotland resulting in the death of all its 259 passengers and crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie. The destruction was caused by using SEMTEX, a high-performance plastic explosive. Thermal Neutron Activation (TNA) systems for detecting explosives were introduced in 1988. On December 19, 1987, FAA also required positive passenger bag matching for all international flights unless such unmatched bag had been physically searched. 

On December 24, 1994, Air France flight 8969 was hijacked at Algiers. Three passengers and all the four hijackers were killed in armed action at Marseille. The hijackers had gained access to the aircraft by dressing as policemen with Air Algerie logo. This incident highlighted the danger of “insider threat” and as a response, airport staff were mandated to be screened while entering restricted areas of the airport. Further, the background and antecedent checks of the employees were tightened. 

December 24, 1999 saw the last hijacking incident involving an Indian carrier when Indian Airlines flight IC-814 flying from Kathmandu (Nepal) to Delhi (India) was hijacked to Kandahar (Afghanistan) and the passengers held hostage were reportedly released in exchange for some convicted terrorists and a large amount of cash. In this case, enquiry revealed that weapons and ammunition were supplied to the terrorists in the tarmac area. This incident highlighted deficiency in the pre-embarkation security checks and in-flight security measures. In response, India moved to gradually inducting a single force, CISF for access control and security screening of passengers and hand baggage, mandatory secondary ladder point checking at certain airports, in-flight security officers (IFSOs or Air Marshals) and a security fee to be levied on passengers. 

On December 4, 2000, a Sabena Airbus flight, while approaching Bubjumbura airport, Burundi, was shot at by machine gun fire injuring two passengers and damaging the plane. This brought into focus the importance of funnel area guarding. In many countries, this area is at least kept under surveillance by the security forces. 

On July 24, 2001, six suicide bombers of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) carried out an attack on Colombo airport and destroyed several empty aircrafts. The incident resulted in loss of aircrafts costing USD 450 million, slowdown of the Sri Lankan economy and drop in tourism. This incident led to QRTs being deployed at major airports in many countries which also deployed barriers on the approach road for checking and deterrence. 

All the above incidents and the security responses were mere chicken feed compared to what happened on September 11, 2001, commonly known as 9/11. That calls for another blog.

BCAS, Who?

 

BCAS, Who? That was the question many of my friends and colleagues asked me when I told them I was going to join BCAS. The full form is Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, an attached office under Ministry of Civil Aviation to regulate the security of civil aviation in India.

Recently, the organisation commemorated its 37th Raising Day. The occasion led me to ponder over what BCAS has done over its long existence and whether it has led to securing air travel better. I have been amazed about two things. For all its low profile, much earlier than 9/11, it had put into place a lot of systems which the world woke up to only after 9/11. Second, India was and still is fairly behind the curve in terms of technology but the BCAS systems were achieving the outcomes pretty well in the absence of the fancy technology.

Much like the rest of the world, in India also, security was as varied and variable from airport to airport as there were opinions and relative importance given to it. Each airport had a different access control system, manned by personnel largely drawn from the local police. The composition of the force did not follow any set pattern and seemed more dependent on whims and fancies of senior officers and exigencies. For example, when I was Superintendent of Police, Calcutta Airport in 1995, I was intrigued to find that the domestic airport security was manned by local police, the international airport was manned by CRPF, the perimeter was guarded by Eastern Frontier Rifles and the immigration was manned by Calcutta Police although the airport was not even in the jurisdiction of Calcutta Police.

I asked the airport Director why Calcutta Police was manning the immigration when it was not in the jurisdiction of Calcutta Police. He told me that one evening he was chatting with the state Home Secretary and casually mentioned that the khaki uniform looked a little soiled and could there be a different colour like white. Overnight, the West Bengal Police personnel were replaced by those from Calcutta Police just because their uniform was white. The airport Director of course did not know the intricacies of Police jurisdiction, legal problems, problems arising out of multiplicity of force (i.e., lack of accountability, cross-purpose working), etc.. Point is, with multiple forces and multiple systems at each of the airports, no airport remains safe even if the forces and systems are top class. A compromise in the security architecture in one airport affects the whole aviation security in the country because the planes fly from and to airports. If a weapon or an explosive device or a terrorist gets into the system at one airport, it or he has access to restricted areas of pretty much all of the aviation sector. The decision to have one force for all the airports in the country was taken before 9/11 happened. Hence we see CISF, its airport security group specialising in aviation security, at most airports. The process is not complete yet but we are slowly getting there.

Long, long back, when I boarded a plane for the first time, in Guwahati, I was concerned when I had to part with my registered baggage. What if someone made off with it? I would be landing in Calcutta without even a toothbrush ... However, trusting fate and providence, I got into the plane with a heavy heart, struggled with the seat belt for a while and then settled down. Suddenly, there was an announcement for me to get down and I panicked. Neatly laid out on the tarmac was my battered but beloved suitcase. The airline guy informed that all the other bags were loaded but mine was not because I had not identified it as mine. I simply did not know the requirement. The idea was, mostly, terrorists do not themselves want to die. If the bag travelled with him, it was less likely to contain material for interference in civil aviation. India had it then. Baggage identification and reconciliation became the norm in much of the world much later.

Till date, many countries in the world still have not managed to put in place a system whereby 100 % screening of persons and cargo entering the secure part of the aviation system has been achieved. BCAS mandated it and achieved it long ago.

The above are just two examples. Many other systems which have been in place in India cannot be discussed here due to security considerations.

Technology is good but can we achieve the same outcomes without it?

Perimeter intrusion detection system was the buzzword a while ago. India also acquired it but in a limited way. Till date, the technology has not proved a good enough substitute for the human pair of eyes from a watch tower introduced by BCAS long ago.

Much was written about the stupidity of the jawan putting a stamp on the hand baggage tag when passengers were being screened. “Silly bits of paper with an elastic attached” is how Chetan Bhagat described the baggage tags in his article, “India – stupid, India – smart” in the Times of India. He went on to describe how a really smart terrorist can dodge the system by hiding an unstamped bag in a bigger, stamped bag, and so on. Fact is, no security system is foolproof – layers of security always need to be piled on top of each other to reduce the possibility of a threat passing through. That is why one is sometimes checked at the main entrance, compulsorily at the screening point, and many times, again before the boarding. Then, what about the jawan himself? Does he come from some exotic planet where everything is unsullied and pure as the driven snow? No, he comes from the same place you and I come from – our diverse society with its follies and foibles and large parts of it militancy infested and small parts of it radicalised. He also has his family and loved ones who can be compromised or put under threat. If the jawan is compromised, no system will be able to check the depredations. The terrorist does not even have to be smart. That stamp used to have certain secret features which identified the screener and made him accountable and less susceptible to compromise. In a hijacking situation, at Amritsar involving Indian Airlines flight IC 427, there was armed intervention by the security forces and a terrorist was killed. From the stamp on his boarding card, the screener who had let in two pistols with him was identified and apprehended. Was the stamping system stupid? No, I think, it was pretty smart actually. And, it cost very little, way less than all those fancy CCTV cameras and so on  whose efficacy for detecting a mischievous act by the screener is doubtful, at best.

Well, I resisted all the pressures to do away with the system, even incurring the wrath of the Minister. However, after I left the organisation, the system has been stopped. I doubt if anyone benefited from it. Meanwhile, the aviation security architecture is one layer less.

 

To all, all thanks

 

When I started the blog, I didn’t know how to go about it or whether anyone will bother to read it. Tentatively, I put out a post on Cricket but didn’t circulate the link. Around the third or fourth post, very hesitatingly, I sent the link to a small WhatsApp group, my M. Phil. batchmates. The results were overwhelming. The first day itself garnered 200 page views and one of the batchmates posted that she liked the very first one (about Cricket) the best. Even so, diffidence augmented hesitation and I just kept posting, hoping that no one, not even me, can produce 52 rank bad blogs (yes, my outer limit was carrying on for a year of weekly posts). 

One particular post about Police corruption went viral (by my low standards!) – in fact, I got scared when some readers started tagging PMO and HMO in their tweet feeds. The other turning point was when one of the posts (about Purulia arms drop case) was appreciated by my senior colleagues whom I’ve always looked up to.

 

Sometime back, the blog crossed 10,000 page views, even though I’m still short of the original target of 52 posts. In the context of money, people say making the first million is hard and the other millions follow. I guess, in terms of blogs, the first 10,000 page views is a bit of a landmark and I hope to cross a million someday. A collection of the blog posts has now seen the light of print in the form of a book, Police in Blunderland.

 

The heat map of the readership includes 20 countries and another 218 page views under “others.” The listed countries include USA at second place, UAE (for some reason) third, UK, Singapore, Australia, Sudan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and even some South American countries.

 

Here are some of the encouraging feedback about the blog and the book – Haven’t taken their permission to publish but, I hope, they won’t mind:

 

“Lovely blog. Reminded me of my days across Hindu. The 2 colleges across each other had only one thing in common, and that was the great Jai Singh dhaba. I'm in full agreement that Jai Singh's bun omis and chai had nurtured countless civil servants from DU. Hoping to read part 2 of the blog.”

 

“I had almost forgotten this case, one such sensational case amongst many cases with wider, international ramifications handled esp during my tenure as Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru … Let's wait for the mystery to be solved”

 

“Congratulations Bibhuti. An excellent blog. One of the best that I have read written by a policeman. I am looking forward to reading your other blogs.”

 

“After several weeks I opened the posts of our friends and tried to pick up the thread.  I am happy to go through your extremely readable blog. Your penmanship is rather uncommon. Please complete the story and be on the lookout for new stories. It gave a new dimension to police investigation. We are accustomed to chase dacoits/ Naxalites across villages, districts, states; but the very prospect of chasing them across the sub-continent and continents will make old officers like me rather diffident. I have read your write up with delight for its language and with professional pride for achievement.”

 

“Dash uses a 'tongue in cheek' narrative style of personal experiences in the IPS which makes the blog highly readable.”

 

“He is back from the Valley of the Forgotten Dead

Where he had gone on a sabbatical from being "annoyed"

(As the Rt Hon'ble ROI had once said)

A protracted time off we fans did but dread

To regale us once again with his words so well expressed

In a delirium of joy are we, the blessed.”

 

“As always, your blogs never fail to surprise. This one was an exceptional one and as I read it, I suddenly realised I was sitting on the edge of my seat! This particular episode has all the ingredients for a great film on Netflix …”

 

“Coming from a retired IPS is so breath taking, though we know or face most of these as commoners, however, hardly can do anything to change the system. I had filed a case against a constable and when the officers from Lalbazar visited my home to congratulate me for my courage and praise my parents for raising such a fearless kid, I was immediately forced by my family to withdraw the case for my safety ... One of the reasons why I could ultimately get the permission to move to Bangalore.”

 

“Very beautiful piece, Dash sahab! It unfolds like a classic scene from a Satyajit Ray film. The Socio-economic conditions of real India--with all its iniquities and contradictions could not have been more graphically described! It evokes both hope and despair! Hope, that in the dark and almost lost India, far from the Metros, individual beacons of light can be found working selflessly in the form of "Kalpataru Sir"! And despair, in that, promise and talent which "Hari" signified can be so brutally discouraged by the cruel and unjust social system!”

 

“This book is a collection of blog posts and articles written by celebrated IPS officer B.B. Dash. Among other posts, Shri Dash headed the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and retired as Director General of Police. Though most of the articles relate to police and policing, there are a few articles about college life (Sh Dash attended Hindu College and IIM Banglore), his corporate career, and his two UN deputations. His writing is entertaining as well as informative. There are many hilarious takes on policing and life. There is not one dull page in the whole book.”

 

“All along I had thought of police and policing as dry and boring. But truly there is a lighter side to everything. The writer has narrated about the police and policing with intelligent humour which makes it very interesting. Incidentally, I finished the book in a single sitting.”

The one response which made the journey truly worth it:

 

”Sir, I am a pass-out of ... PGP batch. I recently lost my wife to a massive cardiac arrest. As I struggle to cope with this loss with my 8-year-old daughter, I seem to miss happiness in life. Your article, well written as it is, brought back childhood memories and a very rare smile today. Wanted to say thanks🙏🏻”

To all, all thanks. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻