"Lights out on Sydney airport security"

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Lights out on airport security
By Justin Vallejo
Australia - The Sydney Daily Telegraph


AT LEAST 200 passengers at Sydney airport were allowed on to international
flights without having their baggage X-rayed or walking through metal
detectors.

The airport finally admitted to the compromised security measures yesterday
after originally attempting to deny anything other than normal procedures
were followed. 

The sub-standard passenger screenings came after a power blackout at the
international terminal's security check points following a sub-station fire
on November 16. 

During a 15 to 20 minute window, passengers were screened using only "magic
wand" metal detectors and their luggage searched in the dark by hand. 

Security staff told The Daily Telegraph yesterday they were poking around in
the dark into passenger's bags as a substitute for the X-ray machines that
normally screen carry-on luggage. 

"I couldn't believe what they were asking us to do," said a security guard,
who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Everyone was running around like
headless chooks just trying to push passengers through." 

The latest incident of lax security at the airport follows an investigation
by The Daily Telegraph that revealed how easy it was to enter the back door
without thorough background checks or security searches. 

A journalist and photographer will appear in court on December 17 charged
with trespassing on Commonwealth land and remaining in a secure area. 

The airport estimated that 150 to 200 passengers were screened without the
full security compliment and allowed into the international terminal during
the recent lapse in security. 

It is not known whether any of those passengers also had to suffer the
indignation of paying for a coffee at the airport, which was revealed this
week as an overpriced disgrace ripping off thousands of international
visitors. 

When asked on Thursday afternoon about the apparent holes in security, a
Sydney airport spokesman denied there had been any compromise to security. 

"The security screening machines used by Sydney airport are equipped with
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) ... used in essential applications to
ensure that they are available in the event that normal power supply is
interrupted," he said. 

"Accordingly, normal security screening procedures were followed." 

But yesterday afternoon an airport spokesman admitted that security machines
were unavailable and that electronic wanding of passengers and physical
searching of bags had to be used in "natural light" and emergency lighting. 

"This is the security practice approved by the Office of Transport
Security," the spokesman said.


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