Acsa to take over SAA security

Airports Company SA on Monday assumed responsibility for security and processing of staff through the SAA crew centre. This follows the detention of SAA crew members at Heathrow International Airport last week over drug smuggling allegations. The special task team set up in the wake of the event has outlined its plan of action as follows: •All luggage belonging to crew members will be physically searched; • The number of sniffer dogs will be increased to assist with narcotics detection; • Installation of drug detection devices; • Installation of updated scanner technology with narcotic detection capability by end of March 2009; and • Search both inbound and outbound aircraft to ensure no unauthorised goods are onboard aircraft. Chris Smyth, SAA’s acting CEO, acknowledged that SAA could not resolve these issues alone. “SAA has neither the capability nor the mandate for broader policing and security matters and we have requested assistance via the task team.”