Fliers face new boarding pass scrutiny during hand luggage X-ray in wake of late-night secure area incursion by lone woman
CHRISTY.LEUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 21 April, 2016, 10:47pm
A passenger walks to the immigration counter after entering the restricted area of the departure hall at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Dickson Lee
Security checks have been stepped up at Hong Kong International Airport in the wake of a security breach which has sparked a police investigation.
Airport chiefs on Thursday night confirmed that a series of measures had been introduced to prevent a repeat of an incident on Wednesday when a 21-year-old woman – who is understood to have mental health issues – was able to make it to a Terminal 1 boarding gate despite not having a ticket, boarding pass or passport.
Yesterday, a South China Morning Post reporter had his boarding pass checked for a second time while his hand luggage went through the normal X-ray scanner prior to clearing immigration.
“Airport security staff asked all passengers to show their boarding pass when they put their luggage on the belt,” the reporter said.
The Airport Authority and the Aviation Security Company (Avseco) confirmed on Thursday night that a series of measures had been introduced to prevent a “similar incident” from happening again.
Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, a veteran member of the Legislative Council’s security panel, welcomed the move and said the authority should consider making it permanent.
“A check of each traveller at the X-ray scanner might take a few seconds more.
“But it helps tighten airport security at a second checkpoint before a traveller passes through immigration,” said To.
Around midnight on Tuesday night,the woman – who was not carrying any bags – slipped past security guards making initial boarding pass checks in the departure hall, apparently while they were dealing with other passengers.
She then passed the X-ray scanner and used her Hong Kong identity card to clear e-immigration without being challenged.
The woman, who according to a police spokesman has not been formally charged, was eventually picked up as she loitered around boarding gate No 520.
It is understood she is a long-term outpatient of a public hospital psychiatric unit.
The incident piles pressure on airport security chiefs, who are already at the centre of a row about security and abuse of power allegations over a bag which was delivered to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s daughter from a non-restricted to a restricted area last month.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1937576/passenger-checks-stepped-hong-kong-airport-police-probe
