Documenting Passenger Movement at Airports

hen the report was broken by BBC on Christmas Day in 2009 that a Nigerian nearly bombed a US airliner, it took time for the report to simmer because before then, no Nigerian had been linked to terror attack.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab made history in what is popularly known today as the underwear bomber. He was convicted in the US for attempting to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest airlines Flight 253, en route Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day, 2009.

But there was something instructive about the failed attack. The Nigerian left Accra, Ghana to Lagos, from where he took the flight to Amsterdam. When he was arrested, Amsterdam Schiphol airport did not have the video documentation of his passage; Kotoka airport, Accra did not have it; it was only at the Murtala Muhammed International airport, Lagos that his passage was documented in video. That video helped security operatives immensely in their investigation and it went viral in the international media.

Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), according to industry security experts is efficiently carrying out its responsibilities, despite the shortcomings, which include inadequate manpower and lack of regular training.

THISDAY investigations revealed that every passenger that travels via any Nigerian airport, whether on domestic or international travel is documented on video and on records. Although FAAN may not have comprehensive Close Circuit Camera (CCTV) all over the airport facilities, but the ones at the screening centres where passengers move to board flights are now working effectively.

It was also confirmed that any personal effect that is forgotten during the processing and screening of passengers can now be tracked and kept and the CCTV on the screening areas are reviewed from time to time and in case of any incident, passengers could be traced through the video, using flight time and other indices to capture the movement of each passenger and his identification.

A passenger who forgot his laptop at the Murtala Muhammed Domestic Airport 2 (MMA2) while being screened to board his flight, recovered his laptop 48 hours after.

He forgot to collect the laptop, an Apple Macbook Air, after screening and left with his luggage. When he discovered that he forgot the laptop at the screening point, he promptly contacted the officials, who asked him to come and pick it up.

“I was informed that they could trace anything forgotten at the X-ray machines through the CCTV and whatever that is forgotten is recorded and documented. When the owner comes he has to convince the security officers that he is actually the owner of the thing. In my case, I showed them the pictures in the laptop. Both the Aviation Security and the Bi-Courtney Staff are doing a thorough job. The terminal is run with high standards. I could not control my happiness when I got the laptop back. It shows that many of these criticisms against our system are sometimes a bit exaggerated,” the passenger said.

THISDAY gathered from AVSEC officials that passengers items recovered can be kept for them as long as it takes them to come back and collect them.

“What they just need to do is to open contact with us and we will trace their belonging and keep them. The only problem is that sometimes other passengers may collect such items, but as long is the items are collected by us, they are safe,” an official told THISDAY.

On the fight against terror, security experts said FAAN should invest more in technology and intelligence.

Aviation security expert and the CEO of Scope Centre, Adebayo Babatunde, told THISDAY recently that terrorists succeed when there is security breach, which in the case of airport would enable terrorists to have access to the terminal and detonate their weapons of destruction, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS).

Babatunde said every security apparatus must have very intelligent community, noting that when there is failure of local intelligence, terrorists may have their way.

“What this tells us is that intelligence is the most potent weapon to tackle these problems.

How does it work? We are in the cyber age where everything happens in the flash of a second and therefore terrorism has a lot to do with cybercrime. Countries are investing to counter cybercrime technology, such that the state security is able to manage and nip in the bud potential terrorism act.

“It is very simple, if you don’t invest in the latest cyber terrorism technology and the latest counterterrorism, you cannot and you will not be able to counter this. It tells us one clear story; that we must focus our attention on intelligence and investment in e-technology solutions,” he said.

Babatunde explained that to effectively check security, passengers should be screened from the point of entry to the terminal and this means that government must invest in security.

“What do you invest in? You have to invest in solutions that can detect availability of IEDs and on person’s terrorism weapons. Today’s solution is that you have to look at the entire airport security architecture. Do we have adequate remedy for the level of threat that pervades the world today? Are we able to prevent situation as it happened in Brussels and Istanbul? Are we able to do that in Nigeria? This is because you should not forget that security breaches don’t happen every day. It never happened in Brussels. It happens once and once it does it has maximum economic damage,” he added.

The security expert recommended that the government should look at what is on ground and start building it from there. He also urged the government to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment of the airport environment. W