(South Africa): No searches or dogs, claims SAA stewardess
Saturday, 21 Feb 2009
No searches or dogs, claims SAA stewardess
South African Airways pilots and air stewardesses are wary of their colleagues. They don't know who to trust and are well aware they could be part of the next crew bust with drugs at Heathrow.
"We don't know who to talk to, who to trust. We don't know who else is involved. There is so much animosity and uncertainty at the moment. We are all afraid to go to London now," said an air stewardess, who did not want to be named.
Fifteen crew members - six women and nine men - were arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday after 2kg of cocaine was allegedly found in their luggage. They were released on bail after questioning and are expected to return to the UK for further action on April 7 and 8.
This follows the arrest of 15 crew in January on their arrival at Heathrow after the discovery of three crew bags packed with 50kg of dagga and 4kg of cocaine. All were released on bail and warned to appear in court in London in March after their DNA and fingerprints were taken.
Two days later, security officer Pulane Hlahane, 43, and SAA employee Mmatshuma Matlhara, 35, were arrested.
Hlahane is accused of providing Matlhara with extra security clearance tags so that she could travel with extra luggage, allegedly containing drugs.
SAA has said the airline had not yet decided whether it would pay for its crew members to return to the UK to appear in court there.
"A decision will be made in due course on whether SAA will assist in returning crew to Heathrow," said spokesperson Robyn Chalmers.
This week the airline said that after the first incident in January, security systems were changed, bags were searched and dogs used on the airside.
But the air stewardess said she hadn't noticed any such measures.
"Yes, we had to write our names on our clearance tags. But I was never searched and there were no dogs," she said.
Another crew member, speaking to Eyewitness News, said it was relatively easy to smuggle illegal goods on an international SAA flight.
"There's no machine that can detect the drugs. If there are no sniffer dogs, it is easy."
The SAA staff member also said the only measure put in place was the labelling of the crew members' bags.
An Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) employee, who also didn't want to be named, told the Saturday Star this week that SAA crew members involved in the drug incidents had been threatened by the people they were supplying that they would be exposed if they didn't co-operate.
"Most of them wanted out but they had been threatened. They must do it - or be exposed. It isn't just one air hostess - there are several involved. SAA has become a halfway point for the drugs."
He reiterated what two SAA crew members said earlier: "Although there was an incident three weeks ago, crew are still not being searched. And there is a lot of bribery."
Briefing the National Assembly's public enterprises committee this week, SAA acting CEO Chris Smyth said international drug smugglers had targeted SAA to move their products into Europe.
He said the "drug smuggling plague" SAA was experiencing was a movement of drugs in a supply chain from South-east Asia and South America into Africa, as a hub or transit point into Europe.
Kenya Airways had a problem with drug smuggling some time ago, and when they tightened it up, Kenya became unattractive to the trade.
"Now it's SAA's turn. We've asked for help. SAA can't do this alone. It is not SAA's sole responsibility to fight crime. It is something that needs the collective effort of all players at the airport," Smyth said.
Meanwhile, SAA said the airline, together with customs, the police, Acsa as well as other relevant officials, have been working together on ways to deal with the problem.
Earlier this week, an SAA staff member contacted the Democratic Alliance on condition of anonymity and outlined a "total collapse of security procedures" in the SAA crew centre at OR Tambo International Airport.
The crew centre is used as a transit point for between 600 and 700 SAA international and domestic flight staff each day.
"These lax security processes allow unhindered entry through the checkpoints into the crew centre and onto SAA flights," the staff member said. As a result of the revelations, the DA called on the minister of safety and security to report to the parliamentary committee on safety and security on the state of South Africa's airport security within four weeks