Security procedures tightened at Bangkok airport

Published 8 January 2007

Officials promise to make Suvarnabhumi a model of airport security; move follows New Years bombings; authorities take issue with Loxley-ICTS and threaten to cancel the security company’s contract; with Thai officials getting serious about security, opportunities abound for industry

A week after a series of bomb attacks ruined Thailand’s New Years celebrations, security officials have beefed up airport security standards for what is said to be the first time — an effort, officials said, to meet international anti-terrorism standards at the country’s newly-built Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. These include the widespread deployment of bombsniffing dogs, heightened inspection procedures, and the planned installation of an additional 160 closed circuit cameras on top of the more than 300 such cameras are already in place. In addition, army and police personnel will be assigned temporarily to Suvarnabhumi to assist in providing security. “In a joint effort, cleaning staff, Bangkok security officers or ‘tetsakij’ and local administrative officers must serve as our eyes and ears,” said Saprang Kalayanamitr, the country’s deputy secretary-general of the Council for National Security and chairman of Airports of Thailand Pcl.

On Friday, Saprang publically dressed down that airport’s procedures, and a committee began an investigatation as to whether the Loxley-ICTS consortium, which owns the airport’s security concession, had breached terms of the contract in its deploying of guards there. Earlier findings indicated a widespread shirking and goldbricking problem resulting in a 2,000 baht fine for each missed shift. Saprang has ordered to reinforce measures and deploy more guards at the new airport, on pain of losing its contract altogether. Should they fail, we hope one of our readers will sieze the opportunity to make good. And if not, the increased Thai interest in airport security should prove to be lucrative across a range of technologies.

-read more in this Bangkok Post report