Thanks to heightened security,
the airfreight industry has
achieved some measure of
success in its fight against
crime following a spate of
robberies earlier this year
in and at
operations
around the
OR Tambo
International
Airport (Ortia).
However
security
procedures
planned by
the air cargo
industry and
the Airports
Company of SA
(Acsa) are yet
to be physically
enacted, according to Alwyn
Rautenbach, cargo director of
Airlink International Cargo
and chairman of the Air Cargo
Operators’ Committee (Acoc).
“The first step,” he said,
“was to gain approval for
the capital expenditure. But
that has now been done, and
we are now putting these
physical processes into place
to handle the measures we
have agreed upon.”
These high-level security
measures are aimed at
discouraging the criminal
syndicates involved in these
thefts at the airport and air
cargo operators’
premises.
Heightened
security is also
intended for the
trucks carrying
air cargo goods,
such as cell
phones and
laptops, which
are low-volume,
high-value
and easily
marketable –
and therefore
attractive
targets for the crime gangs.
Rautenbach pointed
out that crime experts said
that the sophisticated and
organised syndicates were
reportedly moving away from
high-security targets to softer
ones such as un-armoured
and unescorted vehicles,
distributing these easily
resalable goods across SA.
He noted that criminal
gangs, heavily armed with the
likes of AK47 and R5 assault
rifles, were also plundering
the lucrative tobacco industry
– and carrying out at least four
hijackings a day on vehicles
transporting cigarettes.
These, he suggested, were
another of those ‘soft target’
areas.
And indeed, British
American Tobacco (BAT) –
one of the biggest distributors
of cigarettes in SA – said that
1 412 of its transport vehicles
were hijacked annually.
Also, according the police,
20.5% of hijackings in the
Gauteng province involved
BAT vehicles transporting
cigarettes.
“What we are doing in
the air cargo industry,”
Rautenbach said, “is a
carefully planned effort
to make our premises and
transport vehicles less of a
‘soft target’, and thereby less
attractive to the crooks.
“Hopefully, police
intelligence will then be able to
identify these criminal gangs
and stick them behind bars.”
INSERT & CAPTION
Sophisticated and
organised syndicates
are reportedly
moving away from
high-security targets
to softer ones.
– Alwyn Rautenbach
