The departure of the Indian Air Colombo-Chennai flight was delayed by a few hours after a Sky Marshall of the flight was taken into custody by the Katunayake airport security personnel when he arrived at the BIA transit passenger terminal with his loaded firearm.
A Sky Marshal is an armed guard who travels incognito on certain commercial flights, and who is trained to take action in the event of a hijack or other violent criminal action.
It is strictly prohibited for the security officer to carry his firearm out of the plane, and if the security officer wants to go out of the plane, he must hand over the firearm to the chief pilot of the plane.
The Sky Marshal of this particular Indian aircraft, an officer of the Special Task Force of India, has arrived at the BIA passenger terminal with the chief pilot of this aircraft, while still carrying his firearm.
While they were on their way back, a security officer at the BIA had seen the firearm in the possession of the aircraft security officer and informed the airport security chiefs about it.
Accordingly, the Sky Marshal was taken into custody by the Katunayake airport security officers.
Higher security officers and the High Commissions of the two countries had reportedly intervened to resolve the issue immediately.(T.K.G. Kapila)