CHENNAI, India, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- India's former minister of aviation was caught at a South Indian airport with a German-made handgun in his carry-on bag.
C.M. Ibrahim was boarding a flight for Bangalore in Chennai, the ancient port formerly known as Madras, when airport security officers found the pistol and seven rounds of ammunition, the Calcutta Telegraph reported.
"I am a former M.P., and I have a license," Ibrahim reportedly said.
The gun was seized because the copy of his license that Ibrahim produced was an illegible photocopy. Ibrahim was cleared to board, but he allowed the plane to leave without him to avoid inconveniencing other passengers, and took a train instead.
He blamed his own absent-mindedness.
"Wherever I go, I carry this weapon along with the copy of the license because of threat from Kashmiri militants," Ibrahim told The Telegraph. "But my mistake last night was to have kept it in my hand bag when it should have been part of the regular baggage."
The flap about the gun overshadowed the announcement Ibrahim made in Bangalore that his party plans to merge into the Congress Party.
