Airport's security on knife's edge
Top CAA official highlights five incidents
Prohibited items such as knives have allegedly been smuggled into the highly restricted security area of the Bandaranaike International Airport ( BIA) by SriLankan Airlines employees -- and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has on five occasions called for reports from SriLankan Airlines in this regard, but the response has been poor.
This was revealed on Friday when the CAA’s Senior Civil Aviation Consultant Ajith Jayasekara gave evidence before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) I nv e s t i g a t i n g A l l e g e d Irregularities at SriLankan Airlines (SriLankan), SriLankan Catering ( SL Catering) and Mihin Lanka (Mihin).
He said the then SriLankan administration had failed to report to the CAA such serious violations of aviation regulations as stipulated in the updated security manual of the airline.
“As a state oversight system on the aviation industry, the CAA should have been informed about these incidents immediately but the then SriLankan administration had failed to do so,” he said.
The five incidents, recorded from 2012 to 2014, involved knives such as Swiss Army knife and splinter knives. They were recovered by airport employees within the highly restricted area of the airport.
Senior State Counsel Fazly Razik argued that internal security lapses at the airport security system might have led to such violations and asked what actions the CAA had t a ken to probe these irregularities or whether the CAA had initiated action against offenders.
M r . Jayasekara said that each time, a detection was made, a preliminary investigation was held and an explanation sought from SriLankan Airlines as to whether any action had been taken in this regard. “The reply from the Sri Lankan Airlines was not satisfactory,” he said.
The Commission’s Chair, retired Supreme Court Justice Anil Gooneratne, made an order directing senior CAA officials to inform the Commission before December 10 on the actions taken by the CAA over the five reported incidents.
Also on Friday, SriLankan Airlines’ Security Manager Titus Kannangara told the Commission that his department’s investigation unit launched inquiries into these incidents. But he could not elaborate on it, as the sittings came to an end for the day.
He is scheduled to testify before the Commission on Wednesday.
The CoI comprises retired Supreme Court Justice Anil Gooneratne ( Chairman), Court of Appeal Judge Gamini Rohan Amarasekara, retired High C o u r t Ju d g e P i ya s e n a Ranasinghe, retired Deputy Auditor General Don Anthony Harold and Sri Lanka Accounting & Au d i t i n g Standards Monitoring Board Director General Wasantha Jayaseeli Kapugama. The CoI sittings will continue tomorrow.
The five incidents recorded from 2012 to 2014 involved knives such as Swiss Army knife and splinter knives. They were recovered by airport employees within the highly restricted area of the airport.