Summary:
KOLKATA: The Air India management has ordered a probe into a pilot’s attempt to ‘smuggle’ out hilsa on a flight from Dhaka to Kolkata earlier this month and asked him to explain the subsequent delay in take-off. The consignment was contraband since Bangladesh had a ban on hilsa export.“Even if the item had not been hilsa, it would still have to be carried in the cargo hold. Though the airline’s security officer foiled the pilot’s attempt, the fracas ensued delayed the August 8 flight by nearly an hour.Airline insiders said all 54 passengers had boarded AI 229 by 9.15pm (local time), well in time for the 9.25pm departure. All of them corroborated that a contractual worker, employed by the airline, had come to deliver an ice-pack containing a 2.5kg hilsa to the pilot just minutes before departure.The security officer, who went by the book, refused to allow the package on board. The plane finally took off around 10.30pm..