2014-06-24      Airport security .... Hong Kong?

When MH370 went missing on March 8, the world was shocked to learn that two of the flight's passengers were travelling on stolen passports. This fact had not been detected by the poor security at Kuala Lumpur Airport.

I must admit I was not surprised. It is no secret that not a few "drug mules" arrested in Hong Kong in recent years collected their drugs in Malaysia, and that drug dealers often mail their drugs from Malaysia, because of poor security at KLA.

But Hong Kong Airport also needs to improve its security. A media report earlier this year said that drug mules keep coming to Hong Kong because at least a third of them get through HKA security.  Another report said that on May 14 this year, seven (!) drug mules on one flight from Nigeria, each with dozens of cocaine capsules in his stomach, passed through HKA without detection, although two of them were arrested some eight hours later in Kowloon.

June 26 is International Anti-Drugs Day. One way to fight the drug war is to improve airport security. Yes, tightened airport security is an inconvenience to passengers and staff. But given the present situation, surely all passengers from known drug countries should be most carefully screened at HKA.