Excerpt from report by Fiji newspaper Fiji Sun website on 7 November:
Airports Fiji Ltd [AFL] is working on stepping up its security operations to better monitor the illegal movement of people and other illegal items. AFL chief executive officer Ratu Sakiusa Tuisolia said the recent incident following the arrest of a foreign national believed to be of Asian origin and an Airport Terminal Services employee trying to smuggle illegal immigrants out of the country [via Nadi international airport] is what they hope to minimize.
"Catching people trying to fly out or get into the country with false documents is what we deal with almost every week and we're able to detect these things with the good work by the Immigration Department with the facilities that we have," said Mr Tuisolia. He said AFL was working with the Immigration Department in closely monitoring three core areas - the threat of terrorism, the illegal movement of people and the movement of any illegal items.
"At the moment, Fiji's security operations at the airport operates on archaic standards and this year Airfare is investing about 6m dollars to put in place a hold luggage [as published]," he said. He said this would mean 100 per cent screening on all luggage going in or out of the country.
"We're also investing thousands of dollars in the training of men and women on airport security standards that are of international standards," he said.
The setting up of a referral group will also be set up at the airport where people are detained if they are found to be involved in any illegal activities. Mr Tuisolia said the new improvements on security operations would be in full operation early next year. [passage omitted]
Source: Fiji Sun website, Suva, in English 7 Nov 05
BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring International Reports -- 11/08/05
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