T&T leads in regional airport security BY JUHEL BROWNE Guardian 03.27.03 Security measures at the nation=92s airports are far better than those at=20 other Caribbean airports. However, these measures are not fool-proof and=20 there will be breaches from time to time, said Works and Transport Minister= =20 Franklyn Khan yesterday. =93I think we compare favourably with the region.= In=20 fact, we are superior to most of the Eastern Caribbean islands and we are=20 taking a lead role =97 as matter of fact, through the Civil Aviation=20 Authority, in training some of our counterparts in the Eastern Caribbean=20 and Caricom,=94 he said. Khan, who is also acting as National Security=20 Minister, was responding to questions about the nation=92s airport security= =20 in light of reports that suspected al-Qaida member Adnan G El Shurkrijumah= =20 visited Trinidad twice in 2001. Special Branch officers and local Interpol= =20 officers are now on the lookout for El Shurkrijumah, 27, who is wanted by=20 the US Federal Bureau of Investigations, which is seeking information to=20 uncover any potential al-Qaida terrorist attacks. El Shurkrijumah is believed to be on his way to Trinidad. =93Statistically= ,=20 when you look at the numbers that come through an airport over a specified= =20 period of time, hundreds of thousands of people per annum... one or two=20 must slip by without detection. And really and truly, surveillance is=20 really to narrow that gap but you will never have a really airtight=20 security system,=94 Khan said. Khan gave the feature address at a signing=20 ceremony for a US$500,000 non-reimbursable technical co-operation grant=20 from the Inter-American Development Bank to strengthen T&T=92s airport=20 security. The event took place at the Ministry of Works=92 Port-of-Spain= head=20 office. Present were IDB country representative William Robinson and=20 director general of Civil Aviation, Ramesh Lutchmedial. The CAA is the=20 executing agency for the project. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************