Screener arrests raise questions about Canadian airport security former, recent, about

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Screener arrests raise questions about Canadian airport security


They’re entrusted with keeping travellers safe in the skies.

But the recent arrest of two Vancouver International Airport security screeners for conspiring to export drugs has once again raised the question: Who’s screening the screeners at Canada’s major airports?

Sen. Colin Kenny, former chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, said the infiltration of organized crime in Canada’s airports is pervasive, but background checks of airport workers and the screening of employees when they enter or leave restricted areas are woefully inadequate.

“If you hear an edge in my voice it’s because all of this is doable,” Kenny said in an interview. “The government knows all these problems. The government has not taken action on any of these problems.”

Late last month, police announced they had arrested a man at the Vancouver airport for attempting to carry a backpack full of ecstasy — nearly 15 kilograms worth — onto a plane bound for Los Angeles.

It is alleged that the man did not have the backpack on him while he went through security screening, but somehow acquired it after he was cleared.

Canada Border Services Agency officers intercepted the man at the departure gate as he waited to board the plane. A spokeswoman declined to say how authorities were tipped off.

The investigation led to the arrests of two uniformed, pre-board screening officers employed at the airport. One was a supervisor. The other was a frontline worker.

One of the two had a recent conviction for credit card fraud and was on probation.

Their employer, Aeroguard Group, said the two men have since been suspended without pay.

Kenny said background checks of airport employees who work in restricted areas need to be more rigorous.

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Right now, checks happen every five years, and, according to Kenny, consist merely of typing in a person’s name into a database and seeing if something bounces back. Kenny said the checks should happen at least every three years and should be more probing for associations with criminal groups.

Kenny also said airport employees should be screened for contraband every time they enter or exit a restricted area. This is the practice in Britain. In Canada, such screening is random and, according to Kenny, occurs only one to two per cent of the time.

“They could be bringing drugs, bombs or guns,” he said.

Transport Canada is the agency responsible for setting up regulations and policy for aviation security in Canada.

In an email, Transport Canada spokeswoman Melanie Quesnel said background checks for employees working in restricted zones at airports are similar to checks performed on federal employees with secret-level clearances — and those are valid for 10 years.

Citing security reasons, Quesnel declined to say how often airport workers are screened when they enter restricted areas. She did not say why they’re done only on a random basis.

Transport Canada said it does not keep statistics on airport employees charged with on-the-job criminal violations. If the agency obtains information that a worker poses a transportation security risk, “the department responds immediately to refuse, suspend or revoke the clearance of the individual in question,” said Maryse Durette, another Transport Canada spokeswoman.

A 2008 RCMP report found there were 58 organized crime groups working within or using Canada’s major airports, mostly in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

“Over half of the groups [32] have been known to facilitate the movement of illegal contraband through the airports by corrupting existing employees or by placing criminal associates into the airport workforce,” the report said.

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Criminal networks bribe employees to “ignore criminality or to assist in criminal activities” and exploit employees’ access to restricted areas and their knowledge of airport security, the report said.

Thirty-seven of the groups were said to be involved in the illicit drug trade. The most common drug smuggled was cocaine.

Chief Supt. Pierre Giguere, director of criminal intelligence for the RCMP, was unable to say whether the problem has worsened since the 2008 report.

He did say the force has “enhanced” the background checks it performs for Transport Canada on prospective airport employees or those up for renewal. Whereas the RCMP used to do about 20,000 security checks each year, it now does about 50,000, he said.

Const. Michael McLaughlin, the RCMP’s spokesman on border integrity issues in B.C., said the RCMP has some concerns about the background check policy.

“I think we share the public’s questioning whether that policy is adequate or not,” he said after a long sigh.

“We know organized crime is constantly probing avenues for the movement of people and goods across our borders. People are constantly pushing the system.”


Air travelers walk through the departures level at Pearson International airport in Toronto February 2, 2011. A snowstorm is hammering parts of Canada and the U.S. causing travel delays and school closures.