Pubdate: Mon, 30 May 2005
Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/98
Author: Martin Chulov and Jonathan Porter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schapelle (Schapelle Corby)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

AIRPORT STAFF 'SMUGGLING DRUGS'

WORKERS at the nation's largest airport, including baggage handlers
with high-level security clearances, have been involved in
drug-smuggling and stealing from passengers, according to a classified
Customs report that also suggests staff pose a terrorism threat.

A probe by investigators into airport workers from toilet cleaners to
pilots has found evidence of alleged criminal conspiracies between
groups of employees with access to the most secure areas of Sydney
airport.

The report, obtained by The Australian, details serious security
breaches and illegal activity by baggage handlers, air crew, ramp and
trolley workers, security screeners and cleaners.

It says baggage handlers have diverted bags containing large amounts
of narcotics from incoming international flights to domestic baggage
carousels, sometimes changing baggage tags, to avoid Customs
examination.

"Baggage handlers are suspected of large-scale pillage and may use the
roof area to gain illegal entry to passenger baggage," the report says.

The roster system makes it easy for baggage handlers to get their
"mates" working in the same gang, it says.

But the report, completed in September last year, provides no direct
evidence to support convicted marijuana smuggler Schapelle Corby's
defence that drugs were planted in her luggage by corrupt baggage
handlers between Brisbane and Sydney.

The Customs investigation found no evidence of domestic drug-smuggling
between Australian airports.

It found Customs checks on aircrew were relatively rare despite
evidence showing that they were "an extremely high risk".
"Intelligence from other law enforcement agencies suggests that some
Asian-recruited Qantas crew may be involved in the importation of
narcotics and are current subjects of alerts," it says.

The report says 39 security screeners out of 500 employed at the
airport have a serious criminal conviction, with a further 39 having
been convicted of minor matters. It says 14 had questionable
immigration status and two were referred to the Department of
Immigration as illegal immigrants.

A well-placed Customs source told The Australian yesterday that
investigators continue to uncover numerous "black spots" in the maze
of baggage tunnels beneath the airport, which cannot be captured by
surveillance cameras.

The black spots were allegedly known to baggage handlers and other
employees and used as dropping-off points for drug
importations.

The two Customs operations, dubbed Tempest and Berlap, targeted two
groups of baggage handlers, each working in a gang of six.
Investigators dubbed one the "Anglo Saxons" and the other the
"Swarthies" - a reference to their Mediterranean appearance.

The Customs source said executives had been sent a copy of the report
last September, but did not appear to have acted on it.

The source claimed senior Customs staff were furious about the
report's findings and suggested that commercial considerations within
the airport may be a reason for a delayed response.

"We have people that don't want to rock the boat and nothing upsets
the running of an airport more than the outing of staff who have very
strong unions behind them. If we took one person out there is no way
that could happen without disrupting the travel of 30,000 people."

One of the gangs is alleged by investigators to have been involved in
the importation late last year of 10kg of cocaine, which was removed
from the baggage processing system before it could be X-rayed.

The report claims that ramp workers and baggage handlers were linked
to Eastern Suburbs drug smuggling syndicates.

Officials monitoring the gang became aware of the pending importation,
which was due to arrive on Lan-Chile flight 801, on October 7. Only
several of the alleged gang were rostered on. The remainder, according
to officials, appeared noticeably excited.

However, the importation was delayed for 24 hours and eventually
arrived on Aerolinas Argentinas flight 1881 on October 8, the same day
Corby's baggage passed through Sydney airport en route to Bali.

One official said the scenario used during numerous earlier
importations had been for the smuggler to check in last, meaning their
bag was left outside the baggage crate stored in the plane's cargo
hold.

The loose bag is typically removed first from the plane in Sydney and
placed on a luggage trolley in between the secured crates carrying
passenger luggage. It then begins a 600m journey through the airport
basement corridors that lead to the baggage dispensing area.

The official, speaking on condition of anonimity, claimed the drugs
are removed from the bag, in a process known as ratting, at one of
three blind-spots along the way. They are hidden there before later
being removed from the airport.

The official said hours of footage had been recorded by surveillance
cameras of lower-level criminality within secure areas of the airport,
ranging from stealing valuables from suitcases, to using passenger
bags to smuggle goods stolen abroad.

Since 1995, the Australian Federal Police has also run its own
investigation, known as Operation Bareena, into alleged criminality at
the airport.

Customs said it could not comment on its operations. A spokeswoman for
Sydney Airport Corporation said it co-operated closely with Customs
and law enforcement agencies, but had not heard of operations Tempest
or Berlap.

The report notes the difficulties experienced by Customs offers in
tracking much of the activity in the airport or identifying staff on
duty.

It says baggage handlers rosters allow shift swapping and the use of
airport personnel to perform overtime away from their usual work station.

"The work practice of some airport employees to organise their own
replacements has to be regarded as very dubious when seen under the
guise of internal conspiracies," the report says.

"The rostering system, which groups work gangs together, facilitates
the possibility of organised crime or internal conspiracies being operated."

Union activity often makes surveillance difficult, the report
says.

"Very strong union presence on the tarmac area and the ever
threatening intervention of union delegates ... is always fraught with
controversy," it says. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake