|
Monday, August 14, 2006
Lumbia airport imposes ban on liquids
By Danilo V. Adorador III
SECURITY in all major transport terminals in Cagayan de Oro are on heightened alert after the latest terrorist threat in Britain and United States, local authorities said.
At Lumbia Airport -- Northern Mindanao's primary air terminal -- hand carried liquids and gels were banned starting last Saturday, said Aviation Security Group chief Rizalino Borlagdasan in an interview with Sun.Star Sunday.
The measure was ordered by the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) to all airport security officials last Friday, Borlagdasan said, following a thwarted plot to blow up US-bound airliners from Britain with liquid explosives.
Last Friday, a bomb scare hit Lumbia airport in Cagayan de Oro as the Tactical Operations Group (TOG) of the Philippine Air Force brought two K-9 bomb-sniffing dogs following reports of a bomb within the area.
However, the report turned out to be a false alarm as the airport personnel later recovered a plastic bag containing only the disposed charger for a laptop computer along with a receipt. The contents are said to belong to a Rotary club member.
Meanwhile, existing security procedures at the airport had been strengthened further while additional security measures were implemented, the official said, without elaborating.
Security in bus and seaport terminals had also been stepped up since the national alert on transport depots was issued, said Police City Director Aurelio Trampe.
Intel activities
Restriction on hand carried liquids enforced on airports, however, did not include other transport terminals, Trampe said.
"We have sent additional personnel to secure and monitor the Macabalan seaport and our bus stations. They will be there until further instruction from our higher command," he told Sun.Star in a phone interview.
The ban on liquids onboard domestic and international commercial aircrafts include "beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and "other items of similar consistency."
Allowed liquids include baby drinks, including infant formula, breast milk and fruit juice, as well as insulin and other "essential nonprescription medicine."
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered security officials last week to convene the government's Anti-Terrorism Task Force to discuss how to "intensify intelligence activities" against terrorist attacks and heighten security in all airports, seaports and other transport terminals.
Arroyo, in her speech before the 10th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council in Cebu, said terrorist threats could not be dealt with single-handedly.
She said every country and international institution must work together if they are determined to successfully address and eliminate the terror threats.
Terror cells
A plot to bomb US-bound aircraft was earlier hatched in Manila in 1995 by Ramzi Yousef -- the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Yousef also was convicted of killing a Japanese passenger with a liquid bomb on a Philippines Airlines jet in 1994 that US prosecutors called a test run.
That plot to bomb US airlines over the Pacific was uncovered following a fire in January 1995 in a Manila apartment Yousef had shared with another man, who was later arrested. Yousef fled to Pakistan where he was arrested a month later.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said "security and intelligence agencies are tracking terror cells round-the-clock, and with strong community vigilance and strong regional and global partnerships, this threat will be contained and defeated." (With reports from Sunnex)
(August 14, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
