In an exclusive report, The Bahama Journal says chaos erupted briefly at the Fort Lauderdale/ Hollywood International Airport yesterday after a former employee of Bahamasair breached a Transportation Security Administration [TSA] checkpoint and attempted to travel on an outdated boarding pass, officials confirmed to the Bahama Journal.
U.S. Transportation Security Administration authorities blamed a Bahamasair employee for allowing a passenger to breach security protocols at the Ft. Lauderdale/ Hollywood International Airport yesterday. But the airline’s managing director refuted the charge. It landed Vince Hilton in trouble with U.S. federal authorities and he was arrested for trespassing, according to the TSA’s regional spokesperson Lauryn Stover.
Ms. Stover said that a Bahamasair airline contracted employee intercepted Mr. Hilton and made the report to TSA officials at the airport.
“Basically the TSA was advised today of an individual who was allowed into the TSA screening check point area by an airline contracted employee, who permitted the individual into the screening area, with false documents,” Ms Stover said.
“The Broward Sheriff’s Office has arrested this individual …and TSA is in the midst of investigating this incident to find out how exactly the airline employee allowed the individual into the security area and also we are questioning the individuals working with the law enforcement authorities to determine all the facts surrounding this particular incident.”
Paul Major, managing director of Bahamasair said Hilton had attempted to travel on a boarding pass that was dated July 18, 2005 and was actually on a 9:15a.m. Bahamasair flight bound for Freeport, Grand Bahama.
He also confirmed that Hilton was one of 700 workers employed by Bahamasair in Ft. Lauderdale. He was fired several months ago.
But he denied any culpability on the part of Bahamasair employees.
“Nobody from Bahamasair allowed him [on board] as far as I know. But it is an airport security breech that he was allowed to get to airside,” Mr. Major said.
“I am sure whatever procedures we should have followed we did. I don’t know if you saw on television just a couple of days ago that somebody from the press was able to obtain a fake I.D and get through security,” he added.
One Bahamian who was at the airport in Ft. Launderdale at the time of the incident said authorities actually pursued Hilton drawing attention to the security violation.
Procedures dictate that airline employees are responsible for checking the boarding passes and photo I.D’s of all the passengers before presenting them to the TSA, Ms. Stover said.
“TSA in Ft. Lauderdale does check all the boarding passes, but we double check them just to make sure that whoever is selected for secondary screening go into the correct queue for secondary screening. It is the airline’s responsibility to check the boarding passes and in this case it appears that the airline’s contracted employee allowed this individual through,” she claimed.
Despite the breach, officials maintained that the TSA system is still effective.
“This means that the TSA layered system of security does work as is evident in the fact that this particular individual, although he accessed a secured area and was permitted access by an airline employee, was still screened for explosives although he did not have any explosives on him and would have not been a threat in terms of taking down an aircraft,” Ms. Stover said.
Major focus has been placed on airport security since the terrorist attacks on America and the world’s heightened resolve against the vice.
The ongoing investigations are to determine exactly how the breach occurred, whether there was a complete violation of federal aviation and TSA rules and what sanctions to levy against Hilton, authorities explained.
Although Mr. Major said Bahamasair employees are trained in proper procedures, an incident of this nature is still likely.
“Anything is possible, so we have mysterious shoppers going through to make sure that employees are adhering to procedures,” Mr. Major said. “I would like to think that it won’t happen but, don’t miss the fact that Bahamasair and all the other airlines operating in Ft, Lauderdale have nothing to do with security procedures.
“The Federal government in the United States has taken over all security measures associated with all ports in particular airports, so it is absolutely important [to strengthen airport security] because you never know what is going to happen. You have to always be alert, always respect and adhere to whatever security regulations that are in place and we do that.”
By: Royanne Forbes, The Bahama Journal
