A British national facing deportation fled the immigration area at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), leading to coordinated search efforts across Delhi. The incident took place on October 28 when the passenger, identified as Fitz Patrick and holding a British passport number 55819**, arrived from Bangkok.
Patrick was to be deported to the UK through Thailand, but managed to escape authorities after landing in Delhi. He reportedly escaped from the immigration zone and exited the airport after completing mandatory processing.
According to a PTI report, a senior officer said, “A security lapse was reported…Delhi Police and security agencies have launched a search operation and registered an FIR while questioning airline staff.”
The teams are working with technical and human intelligence to locate him. The CISF, Delhi Police and Bureau of Immigration together are scanning CCTV footage to identify how the lapse took place, as per a report by ANI.
Multiple teams have been deployed across NCR exit points and possible hideouts. The background of Patrick and the motive are still being investigated.
Missed the London connecting flight
Officials told Network18 that Patrick’s Air India flight from Bangkok landed around 12 noon on October 28. He was scheduled to take a connecting flight to London, Air India AI 117, departing at 2:10 pm, but he missed it because he was late. As a result, he remained inside the international-to-international transfer area. It was only on October 29 that Air India staff reported a missing passenger, leading the airport authorities to begin search operations.
It was later found that Patrick was seen scaling the arrival immigration e-visa counter around 7:30 am and exiting the terminal through arrival gate number four, another official told the news portal. During the further review, he was also seen walking toward the city side of the terminal and later boarded an Air India SATS staff ferry bus.
ATC system causes a major delay at the Delhi IGI Airport
Meanwhile, at least 100 flights were delayed at IGI Airport on Friday morning because of a technical issue in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, as per Delhi Airport.
In a social media post on X, the airport mentioned, “Due to technical issues with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, flight operations at IGIA are facing delays. Passengers are advised to stay in touch with their respective airlines for the flight updates.”
Airlines like Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo have issued advisories warning travellers of disruptions.