KLM slaps a ban on valuable goods

Freight industry condemns 'non-existent' JIA security, writes Alan Peat SECURITY AT Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) is "non-existent", according to parties in the air cargo industry, and airlines are beginning to shut down services because of the extra-high theft risk. Following the heist of US$9.5-million (almost R110-m) in cash, and one-and-a-half million rands worth of diamonds and other jewellery at the airport at Christmas - with a female security guard being shot in the leg by the armed robbers - one member of the valuable goods (VAL) freight industry received a fax from an American colleague sending "condolences" for having to work in "such a Wild West scenario". This disgruntled recipient and other members of the industry who spoke to FTW "off the record" condemned airport security as "utterly inadequate, if not non-existent", and called for the SA airport authorities to take a lead in improving security measures. At the same time - with security guards having been arrested in both this case and the recent robbery and fatal shooting at Lufthansa's airport cargo depot - they also suggest that "collusion and corruption" at the airport is becoming very obvious. Meantime, Dutch airline KLM - which had flown the cash and jewellery in from Amsterdam - slapped an immediate ban on VAL goods on flights to and from SA's main airport. "In light of this most recent event, we have decided to close Johannesburg for all VAL imports and exports until this month," said Sanjay Towari, KLM Cargo's director of secure logistics at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, in a letter to an SA client. He added that this ban could become indefinite "if there is no indication that security at entry and exit points to the airport has been visibly and measurably improved". Towari also suggested that the police and army could be called in if the Airports Company of SA (Acsa) continues to prove inadequate at supplying effective security. "KLM Cargo has, in the past months, undertaken several corrective measures on its own to improve security procedures," he said. "There is, however, a limit to what we as a carrier can do in the absence of proper security measures at all entry and exit points to the airport. "These are measures which should be enforced by the airports authority - if necessary, with the assistance of SA police and/or the armed forces." However, Acsa is adamant that its security measures are adequate, despite having fired Khuselani Security a month ago, and appointed a new firm in its place. Another case which raises questions about security and possible collusion at JIA was that surrounding a consignment of 226 hunting rifles which had been presumably legally imported to SA via the airport - and mysteriously found itself re-routed to the "abandoned cargo" section of the cargo premises, where it sat unattended for three days until police found it on a random search. This, suggested an FTW forwarding contact, was possibly thanks to a criminal element diverting the cargo to the abandoned cargo section prior to illegally removing the rifles from the airport premises. The importer (a legitimate gun dealer in KwaZulu Natal, according to police) presumably had a licence, the forwarder said, and the goods would, therefore, have been declared before entry and should not have "got lost" at the airport as had been suggested. "The fact that customs at JIA should have identified the shipment and have it put through the correct procedure for firearm imports, something which didn't happen, also seems to suggest that something funny happened," he added. "If the importer had a legal licence to import, I can't see any reason why he would have indulged in trying to smuggle these hunting rifles into SA. It doesn't make sense." The SA Gun Owners Association agreed, blaming what it described as a "lack of airport security" for the event. Spokesman Doug Kirton said a dealer would not take such a risk for 226 rifles.