Airport security officer in hot water for failing to check luggage
A security screening officer at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan province has been suspended after failing to check inside a suspicious piece of luggage which turned out to contain live animals, the airport said in a statement issued on Thursday.
According to a source, a baby mouse and a baby otter were reportedly found in the luggage smuggled by two foreign passengers on board a flight heading to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday (October 4) afternoon.
The airport said CCTV footage revealed that the passengers sent the luggage through an x-ray scanning machine at around 1.45pm. It was checked by staffers of AOT Aviation Security Company Limited, a subsidiary of Airports of Thailand (AOT), which has been contracted by the airport to handle security screening.
The statement said an employee responsible for checking x-ray images found that the luggage might contain banned items and therefore passed it to another staffer to check it, but the official did not open the suspicious luggage and instead let the passengers pass the checkpoint.
The airport stressed that its screening technology and procedures are up to international standards, but the incident was a result of human error and failure to follow the procedures. The staffer therefore was suspended from duty immediately and will face disciplinary and legal actions, it added.
The airport warned both Thai and foreign passengers that smuggling live animals or animal carcasses on board the aeroplane is illegal, punishable with both a jail term and a fine. Passengers are advised to properly apply for animal transport service at the airport if they want to bring their pets on their trip.
