-airport official says
aThe airport security scanner, which is manned 24 hours a day, should have detected the VIP who was allowed to board a plane with live ammunition in his possession, a Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri official says.
The official told Stabroek News yesterday that it is unclear how the security officers on duty allowed such a major breach to occur. Persons who use the VIP and executive lounges at the airport are expected to go through the same security checks as regular passengers and serious questions have been raised as to what would have happened last Sunday when the man, the head of a state agency, was allowed to depart with the ammunition and magazine in his possession.
It was not until the man arrived at the Piarco Airport in Trinidad that the items were discovered and the Guyana authorities contacted.
Yesterday Chief Executive Officer of the airport, Ramesh Ghir, did not want to comment on the incident, saying that he is awaiting the report following the police investigation. Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene told Stabroek News on Tuesday that he had received a call from Trinidad informing him of the find. He described the man’s action as a “genuine mistake” since he lodged his licensed firearm at the airport. The man said he forgot to lodge the ammunition and magazine.
Meanwhile, Captain Gerry Gouveia, operator of the Roraima VIP lounge at the airport, yesterday described the incident as a major security breach. He said that sometimes Guyanese would get upset at the thorough security searches they have to undergo while stopping over in Trinidad but he said it points to the fact that the security officials over there have no confidence in Guyana’s security and that incident would only confirm their belief.
Gouveia said the incident makes Guyana look bad and he called upon all persons who use the VIP lounges at the airport to present themselves for thorough security checks, not only for security reasons but also for their own safety.
Gouveia had recently called on Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon to be more “specific” about breaches that he said were occurring at the VIP lounges at the airport. He explained that he only asked because he knows no breaches occur at his lounge, since persons who use it are always subjected to “one hundred percent security checks just like any other passenger.” He said Dr Luncheon has since said on television that he was only referring to the government-operated lounges at the airport.
Luncheon had told the media that the breaches may have contributed to cocaine trafficking among other offences and that the government had called for a review of the operation of the lounges.
Gouveia called on the government to urgently correct the problems and ensure that all persons go through the entire screening process at the airport.
