Advert

Probe finds no proof of airport security breach

There was no evidence a Sri Lankan man caught with two knives on his arrival in Rome in December was carrying them when he passed through Malta International Airport, the government said.

Italy’s police had reported that, on Christmas Eve, the 37-year-old, travelling aboard an Air Malta flight with two co-nationals en route to Doha in Qatar, was stopped at Fiumicino while carrying two knives in his trouser pockets along with a screwdriver.

Terrorism had been ruled out at that stage.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs said the Office of the Manager of Airport Security (Omas) investigated the incident and found no evidence proving “the passenger in question was carrying the knives on his person or his cabin baggage when passing through the security screening at Malta International Airport”.

However, “without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation”, Omas made a number of recommendations to further improve security screening at MIA as part of its routine review of safety procedures. The recommendations were implemented by MIA, the spokesman said.

Civil aviation industry sources said it was difficult to trace where the knives had originated from because the flight in question had made a stopover in Reggio Calabria, where people were taken aboard.

The Maltese airport was not accountable for what happened in other airports.

Advert

2 Comments

Post comment

Comments are submitted under the express understanding and condition that the editor may, and is authorised to, disclose any/all of the above personal information to any person or entity requesting the information for the purposes of legal action on grounds that such person or entity is aggrieved by any comment so submitted.

At this time your comment will not be displayed immediately upon posting. Please allow some time for your comment to be moderated before it is displayed.

Your User Profile is incomplete.
Please click here to complete your profile before posting comments.

Christian Sciberras

Apr 23rd 2011, 12:36

I am well satisfied with MIA, however, "Nothing gets past security at the MIA." is simply not true.

Back a few years ago, I accidentally carried a screwdriver within my laptop case (which I kept with me at all times during the voyage), and I wasn't stopped (as would be expected).

Advert
Advert