Since he stepped down from office in July 2007, Kalam has been a regular traveller abroad, invited by universities and think tanks for lectures and attending seminars.

'He has been to the US alone four times already and is off again in September for receiving an award from the California Institute of Technology,' Sheridan said.

'We just got back from Dhaka this afternoon where the former president was given royal treatment.'

Kalam was in Dhaka on a three-day visit and met with Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and attended a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Zillur Rahman.

This is not the first time that Indian politicians or VIPs have been subjected to frisking.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was forced to undergo security checks at the ceremonial lounge at Moscow airport last year while he was on his way back to India, creating a diplomatic flutter.

However, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called off a scheduled official visit to London in October last year after he was told he would be frisked at Heathrow airport. He was then invited by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

That was the second time Chatterjee cancelled a foreign trip for the same reason. In April 2005, he called off a trip to Sydney after the government refused to exempt him from security frisking.