A 42-year-old citizen of the United States has been arrested for allegedly carrying a live bullet of a handgun at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the early hours of Friday in Andheri (east). An official from a government security establishment said he might have been testing the security apparatus at the airport.
The arrested accused has been identified as Christopher Martin Galusha from Pemburn Drive, Fairfield, Connecticut. It is not clear where Mr Galusha was headed to, but he had a ticket for Emirates 501, which carries passengers from Mumbai to Dubai.
Around 2 am, during checking, airport authorities found a bullet in his possession after which the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) detained Mr Galusha and disallowed him from boarding the flight.
Mr Galusha was asked to carry his luggage to the nearby Sahar police station where an FIR was registered against him under Section 5 (license for arms and ammunition) and 25 (punishment for certain offences) of the Arms Act 1959. He was produced before a magistrate’s court and remanded to police custody for a day.
When questioned as to why he was carrying the bullet, Mr Galusha claimed he had no idea it was unlawful to carry ammunition on flights, which he said was allowed in the other countries that he had been to, said senior police inspector B.T. Mukhedkar.
The Sahar police said it believed Mr Galusha’s version as India has stricter laws against carrying of arms and ammunition as compared to several other countries including the United States. Speaking over the phone, CISF spokesperson
Hemendra Singh said that such cases had occurred several times in the past. When asked if the American had been trying to test the security apparatus at the airport, Mr Singh replied, “Maybe.”
