Airport Security

Hi All

As an Aussie I'm not happy about displaying our own
shortcomings, but I suspect this report is only indicative
of problems that spread well beyond our own borders.

Maybe it is only local, but it certainly means that I will
be ensuring that in future I:

Don't check anything I can't afford to lose;
Always use cable ties to seal my checked luggage; and
Always immediately inform someone in authority if I notice
those seals are broken before I reach an inspection point.

An excerpt from "The Australian" yesterday (see
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html
for the full report):

" Airport staff 'smuggling drugs'
Martin Chulov and Jonathan Porter
May 31, 2005

WORKERS at the nation's largest airport, including baggage
handlers with high-level security clearances, have been
involved in drug-smuggling and stealing from passengers,
according to a classified Customs report that also suggests
staff pose a terrorism threat.

A probe by investigators into airport workers from toilet
cleaners to pilots has found evidence of alleged criminal
conspiracies between groups of employees with access to the
most secure areas of Sydney airport.

The report, obtained by The Australian, details serious
security breaches and illegal activity by baggage handlers,
air crew, ramp and trolley workers, security screeners and
cleaners.

It says baggage handlers have diverted bags containing large
amounts of narcotics from incoming international flights to
domestic baggage carousels, sometimes changing baggage tags,
to avoid Customs examination.

"Baggage handlers are suspected of large-scale pillage and
may use the roof area to gain illegal entry to passenger
baggage," the report says.

The roster system makes it easy for baggage handlers to get
their "mates" working in the same gang, it says."




Cheers, Alan, Australia

"Alan S" wrote in message
...
Hi All

As an Aussie I'm not happy about displaying our own
shortcomings, but I suspect this report is only indicative
of problems that spread well beyond our own borders.

Maybe it is only local, but it certainly means that I will
be ensuring that in future I:

Don't check anything I can't afford to lose;
Always use cable ties to seal my checked luggage; and
Always immediately inform someone in authority if I notice
those seals are broken before I reach an inspection point.

An excerpt from "The Australian" yesterday (see
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html
for the full report):

" Airport staff 'smuggling drugs'
Martin Chulov and Jonathan Porter
May 31, 2005

WORKERS at the nation's largest airport, including baggage
handlers with high-level security clearances, have been
involved in drug-smuggling and stealing from passengers,
according to a classified Customs report that also suggests
staff pose a terrorism threat.

A probe by investigators into airport workers from toilet
cleaners to pilots has found evidence of alleged criminal
conspiracies between groups of employees with access to the
most secure areas of Sydney airport.

The report, obtained by The Australian, details serious
security breaches and illegal activity by baggage handlers,
air crew, ramp and trolley workers, security screeners and
cleaners.

It says baggage handlers have diverted bags containing large
amounts of narcotics from incoming international flights to
domestic baggage carousels, sometimes changing baggage tags,
to avoid Customs examination.

"Baggage handlers are suspected of large-scale pillage and
may use the roof area to gain illegal entry to passenger
baggage," the report says.

The roster system makes it easy for baggage handlers to get
their "mates" working in the same gang, it says."




Cheers, Alan, Australia

If you can, I suggest anyone traveling into or out of Australia bring carry
on luggage only. Or risk 10 or 20, life in goal or even the death penalty
until all airport security is updated.

If you thought terrorism was a problem this is much worse. At least if
someone plants a bomb on a plane, that's it, you're dead. A lot better than
spending the rest of your life in a stinking Asian goal living on nasi
goreng.

Chika Honda a young Japanese tourist arrived in Australia after a stop over
in Malaysia in 1992. During their stop over their luggage, which had been
left in the businessman's van, which had been stolen while they were having
dinner. The businessman was very apologetic, and the following morning gave
each of
them replacement suitcases. They found heroin in the suitcase when she
arrived in Melbourne. She did 10 years

There was a letter in last Saturday's Melbourne Age that succinctly
described their situation:


Pity Schapelle - but remember the 'Japanese Five'


Date: May 27 2005


With Schapelle Corby's verdict looming, the Australian public is
preparing to be outraged at the injustice of the Indonesian judicial
system. However, we should reflect on our own treatment of
non-Australians arrested for apparent drug trafficking in our own
country. I refer to the group of Japanese tourists who were arrested at
Melbourne Airport in 1992. Where were all of the voices screaming for
justice when this tragic case unfolded?


The group's nightmare began with a holiday that they claimed had been
organised by a Malaysian businessman who had given it as a gift.


The trip, they said, was to be a way of compensation for a car accident
in which one of the group members, Yoshio Katsuno, had been involved
while on a business trip to Kuala Lumpur. Yoshio had spent two weeks in
hospital in KL, and accepting this gift from was not an unusual matter
in both cultures. The businessman suggested that Yoshio arrange a group
of friends to travel with him.


According to their story, Yoshio and the rest of the group were
instructed to meet the businessman in Kuala Lumpur the day before they
were to travel to Australia. He met them at the airport and took them
out to dinner that evening. Their luggage, which had been left in the
businessman's van, had been stolen while they were having dinner. The
businessman was very apologetic, and the following morning gave each of
them replacement suitcases - a gesture which was interpreted as an act
of kindness. Unknown to them - so they claimed - the new suitcases had
false bottoms that contained, in total, 13 kilograms of heroin.


When the group touched down at Melbourne Airport the authorities were
waiting for them. They had been tipped off to a large drug haul that was
entering the country.


The group was taken in and interrogated with none of them comprehending
the gravity of their situation because they did not speak a word of
English. Their supporters claim that they were not provided with
competent interpreters at the time of the police interviews. This
resulted in the case being weighted very heavily against them when it
came to their trial.


Five of the group were arrested and charged with drug trafficking and
two returned home because their suitcases did not contain any drugs.
Four of them served 10 years and one remains in prison, due to be
released in 2006.


It has been suggested that the authorities were tipped off about the
group of Japanese tourists in order to allow another bigger drug haul to
enter the country. Whatever the real story is, we cannot escape the fact
that these people were dealt with in a way that would make Australians
scream for justice if it was one of their own.


To assume that possession equals ownership is quite obviously not
peculiar to the Indonesian judicial system.


We can feel outrage for Schapelle - but we should remember the adage
about people in glass houses not throwing stones.


-- Caitriona Prendergast, Black Rock