By Amin Kef-Ranger
Regardless of information making the rounds on Social Media that it is unnecessary and an additional burden to levy a security levy on flight passengers, however, from what this medium reliably learnt the Government is not against the payment of $25 security levy by Securiport at the Freetown International Airport.
From what was further understood by this medium that the Government regards Securiport as a reliable and trusted partner that had been and is still supporting the growth and development of Sierra Leone, noting that the $25 collected is justifiable further emphasizing that it is aware of it.
“We cannot allow foreign or local companies to scam our people,” an official of the Ministry maintained adding how Securiport’s integrated immigration control system makes it possible for the effective verification of passengers’ identities and check the authenticity of travelling documents.
The presence of Securiport at the airport also makes it possible for a real-time connection to Interpol, to have instant access to terrorist watch-lists, no-fly lists, fraudulent document lists and other critical information.
According to an official, who is a long time employee of the Sierra Leone Airport Authority, Securiport is a global leader in the design and implementation of civil aviation security, biometric screening, immigration control, and threat assessment systems.
He continued by revealing that Securiport’s Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services is a comprehensive security product that performs secure biometric recognition of travelers at immigration posts, provides proprietary systems for the identification of potential security risks, criminal activity, and disease prevention based on the comparison and multi-dimensional analysis of the biometric data and traveler information collected during immigration processing.
It could be recalled that as a reputable American technology firm, Securiport signed a contract with the Government of Sierra Leone in March 2012 to provide traveler, airport, and civil aviation security systems.
“Securiport’s systems are the most advanced in the world and are provided within the frame of a comprehensive civil aviation security service. Besides the biometric identification of travelers and a number of security features installed in the airport, they provide all the elements to identify potential criminals attempting to enter or leave the country on commercial flights, applying advanced artificial intelligence methods,” an official of the company stated with professionalism.
