YouTuber arrested for breaching Bengaluru airport security, making video

A YouTuber has been arrested by the Bengaluru airport police for breaching security at the city’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) under the pretext of flying to Chennai.

According to a report, Bengaluru-based Vikas Gowda, who has over 1 lakh subscribers on his YouTube channel, made a video “mocking” the security arrangements inside the Bengaluru airport's Terminal 2. The video has been taken down now after his arrest and he was booked under two IPC sections.

Booked for trespassing

He will face stringent legal action as entering a sensitive area like an airport is not acceptable, sources said, according to a report in New Indian Express.

As per the newspaper report, Vikas was booked under IPC sections 448 (Trespassing) and Sec 505 (Statements causing public mischief) after a complaint was filed by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Inspector Murali Lal Meena.

Vikas had purchased a ticket to travel from Bengaluru to Chennai on April 7 but did not board the flight. He was at the airport to make videos and claimed he would stay at the airport for 24 hours.

Used hidden device

Laxmi Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North East division, Bengaluru Police, told the newspaper, “Gowda has been arrested and his phone is seized.”

“Gowda has entered the airport premises with the specific purpose of shooting videos on April 7. He had booked the cheapest flight ticket from Bengaluru to Chennai to give the false impression that he was a genuine flyer,” a CISF cop was quoted as saying in the report.

“After completing the security checks around 12.06 pm, he did not approach the boarding gate. He had some hidden device through which he began shooting visuals in restricted areas too by illegally entering them. He is also heard bragging in Kannada that he would roam around the airport for a full day and prove that the airport security can be breached.

“There is no scope for mischief or fun inside a highly sensitive area like the airport. Hence, we will be taking strong legal action. Gowda has also proved to be a liar and has falsely claimed he was travelling. He has illegally entered spaces inside unauthorisedly using a ticket to create a wrong impression that the security inside an airport is not tight,” the cop added.