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Mr Charles Asare (middle) and Mr Jon Benjamin to his left, pose behind the equipment together with staff of the GACL and the British Embassy in Accra after the presentation

Ghana Airports improves safety, security

Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has taken delivery of two Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) machines for use at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.

The move forms part of efforts by the management of the company to continuously enhance safety and security at the airports in the country to prevent them from terrorists.

 

The machines will be used for the screening of passengers and cabin baggage among others for explosives.

This comes at a time when terrorist activities across the world have heightened, irrespective of the country.

Due to the loose security checks in many airports, terrorists are able to smuggle weapons and explosive devices into the aircraft only to detonate them midair.

Others use the explosives to hijack the planes and kill innocent passengers who attempt to prevent them from hijacks

MoU

The delivery of the equipment follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Government of Ghana and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in May, 2015.

Under the terms of the MoU, apart from providing the equipment, Britain and Ireland will also provide training for fifteen personnel in the operational use of the ETD equipment and provide “train-the-trainer” training for five personnel in the supervision, advanced use and daily routine maintenance procedures.

Presenting the items, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jon Benjamin, indicated: “Terrorists look for weak links in a system to strike and we believe that these equipment will go a long way to enhance security and complement the existing security arrangements at KIA.”

He said Ghana and the UK had collaborated on many fronts, adding that the presentation of the equipment further deepened the existing relationship.

The Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company, Mr Charles Asare, received the items and said: “Today’s event is significant in the light of recent security challenges at airports and the current investigation into the plane crash at the Sharm-el-Shieik in Egypt which proves that one of the preferred terrorist weapons to destroy commercial airlines is the deployment of explosives and bombs.’’

He said the ability of every airport to detect and stop such explosives before they got loaded or carried into a plane could not be overemphasised and described the presentation from the British as timely and necessary.

Present at the presentation were His Excellency Mr Jon Benjamin, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Charles Asare, the Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited, and other senior management members of GACL.

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