Security breach at Jhb airport

2005-12-16 15:54

Johannesburg - The home affairs department admitted on Friday to a security breach at the Johannesburg International Airport after several passengers from Nigeria were able to enter the country without being cleared.

The Star newspaper reported on Friday that 100 passengers flying in from Lagos waltzed through immigration check points at the airport without having their passports stamped on Thursday morning.

The passengers had reportedly waited for 45 minutes for a customs official to arrive. When, after another 45 minutes there was still no one, they simply went through.

"About 109 passengers had their passports stamped," home affairs spokesperson Nkosana Sibuyi told Sapa.

"There was, however, a predicament that we had to deal with as there were only three immigration officers working at the time and other passengers managed to pass through without their passports being stamped."

He said it was not known how many of the passengers entered the country without having their passports stamped.

Sibuyi said some of the passengers had returned to the airport to have their travel documents approved.

"What we have also observed is that we have minimal officers at the airport.

"We are obviously exploring increasing our capacity in all ports of entries not just in Johannesburg," said Sibuyi.

"In terms of resolving this problem. Well, it's very easy because all the passengers who come into the country were given forms to fill in on the plane.

"These were submitted to custom officials.

"Our colleagues are checking whether they can trace these passengers using the information given in the forms."

He said the help of SA Airways would be enlisted to determine how many passengers still had to have their passports stamped.

The passengers were on an SAA aircraft which arrived at about 05:00.

- SAPA