Armed men shut down CAA canteen after breaking into Islamabad airport
Sources say the incident has left the airport authorities in a conundrum
New Islamabad Airport. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
RAWALPINDI:
Despite stringent security arrangement at the New Islamabad International Airport, armed men managed to break into the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) canteen and shut it down on Sunday.
The assailants not only hurled threats at staffers but also locked them up in the canteen.
Upon hearing of the incident, authorities reached the scene and set free those trapped inside.
The assailants also tore apart the CCTV system and took it with them.
Islamabad Police is now been tasked to look into the incident.
As border tensions remain, cost of air travel surges
According to details, a former contractor for the canteen along with 12 accomplices broke into the building and rounded up the canteen's manager and security guards.
The assailants then kicked out those present inside the canteen and locked it from outside.
Sources say the incident has left the airport authorities in a conundrum.
The canteen's former contractor said he had built the canteen and was running it for several months. He said that four months ago, the CAA had issued a tender for the canteen, which he claimed was awarded to a private firm.
He added that the owner of the private firm happened to be a government servant.
A CAA official told The Express Tribune that the former contractor had been let go earlier and now the canteen was being run by a private firm following due process.
Despite stringent security arrangement at the New Islamabad International Airport, armed men managed to break into the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) canteen and shut it down on Sunday.
The assailants not only hurled threats at staffers but also locked them up in the canteen.
Upon hearing of the incident, authorities reached the scene and set free those trapped inside.
The assailants also tore apart the CCTV system and took it with them.
Islamabad Police is now been tasked to look into the incident.
As border tensions remain, cost of air travel surges
According to details, a former contractor for the canteen along with 12 accomplices broke into the building and rounded up the canteen's manager and security guards.
The assailants then kicked out those present inside the canteen and locked it from outside.
Sources say the incident has left the airport authorities in a conundrum.
The canteen's former contractor said he had built the canteen and was running it for several months. He said that four months ago, the CAA had issued a tender for the canteen, which he claimed was awarded to a private firm.
He added that the owner of the private firm happened to be a government servant.
A CAA official told The Express Tribune that the former contractor had been let go earlier and now the canteen was being run by a private firm following due process.