KARACHI, 9 December — Video cameras have been fixed at Karachi international airport in the walkways and departure lounges and satellite technology is believed to be in operation to beam pictures of all passengers to data banks in the USA for possible identification of suspected terrorists.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation started operating at Pakistani airports from Friday. They have put up their counters behind closed doors, and will be monitoring the arriving and departing passengers from Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad through TV cameras, set up all over these airports.
This latest security check comes after the FBI scanning booths were set up to cross-check particulars of departing passengers so that Al-Qaeda members and other wanted persons do not escape the security net, said sources at the airport. “There were possibilities of movement of suspects on fake documents,” said a high official of Interior Ministry.
To plug this gap, the authorities have decided to install video cameras, which could enable officials in Washington and New York to see all the passengers directly through satellite transmissions and match them with their records. If a suspect is found, he would either be detained at Karachi airport or the next destination would be alerted to nab him there, reports The News daily yesterday.
Airport workers, according to sources, have already seen some arrests of suspects by the intelligence agencies from local flights arriving at Karachi airport.
The latest incident took place on Wednesday, when intelligence officials picked up a passenger on Flight PK-579 from Turbat on the apron and took him away in a PIA van. He was said to be a bearded middle-aged man. In a span of two months, officials are said to have picked up about a dozen suspects so far.
