Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand's Ministry of Transport has ordered tougher measures to combat drug smuggling through the country's airports, including greater use of intelligence, biometric technology and risk analysis, while requiring airline crew members to undergo the same security screening as passengers.
The move follows the arrest of a Thai Airways employee in Australia over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
Deputy Minister of Transport Phattrapong Phattraprasit said he had instructed Air Chief Marshal Manat Chavanaprayoon, Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), to urgently coordinate with relevant agencies to strengthen controls against drug smuggling on international flights.
In response to the incident, CAAT convened a meeting with representatives of Thai Airways, Airports of Thailand (AOT), the Customs Department, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and security agencies to develop both immediate and long-term measures to close security loopholes and strengthen aviation security.
Under the immediate measures, Thai Airways will tighten inspections of flight crew and their baggage before each flight and impose strict disciplinary action on employees who violate regulations or accept unauthorised items from others.
CAAT will require all airlines operating in the country to adopt the same procedures and will closely monitor compliance.
AOT confirmed that airline crew members are already screened to the same standards as passengers and pledged to continue working closely with airlines and security agencies to strengthen airport security.
Meanwhile, the ONCB and the Customs Department will enhance the capabilities of screening personnel to improve the detection of suspicious behaviour and potential drug trafficking activities.
As part of its long-term strategy, Thailand plans to expand the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for risk analysis and the identification of suspicious travellers. Authorities will also study the integration of databases shared by customs, immigration and other relevant agencies to improve intelligence sharing.
In addition, AOT plans to introduce biometric technology into passenger check-in and baggage screening procedures to improve identity verification and passenger tracking./.
