The beefing up of security at OR Tambo Airport could be behind the recent crackdowns on criminals passing through its terminals.
Most recently, in a multi-agency operation, authorities arrested a Zimbabwean woman carrying
and travelling to Hong Kong via Johannesburg.
The airport said in a statement on Sunday that the implementation of the integrated multi-disciplinary tactical security plan, announced on July 21, was progressing well and showing some encouraging early results.
“A number of suspects have been arrested at the airport in the past two weeks in connection with interceptions of shipments of drugs and rhino horn as well as vehicle theft.”
Spokesperson for the airport Leigh Gunkel-Keuler said: “The strategic and operational support from the Ministries of Police, State Security, Transport and Home Affairs, as well as from the Ekurhuleni Metro and others, is proving instrumental in driving this results-oriented effort.”
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The airport said two significant arrests were made by Customs and Excise and the South African Police Service on Saturday.
The suspects in two separate interceptions were arrested for the illegal possession of narcotics with street values of several millions of rand.
It had been established that while the suspects work at the airport, they were directly employed by ground handling companies, Menzies and Swissport respectively, said Gunkel-Keuler.
She said scrutiny of people working at the airport across all jobs and employers could be expected to increase.
“O.R. Tambo International Airport is in many ways like a small city. We have more than 21 million passengers landing or departing every year. It takes more than 35 000 people working at the airport for different service providers and stakeholders to keep things running smoothly.”
Gunkel-Keuler said only 1 200 of these people are directly employed by the airport with the rest spread across retail, public transport, airlines, ground handling, vehicle rental, financial services, hospitality, hotels and government agencies such as Home Affairs and SARS.
“Security operations can therefore be complicated at times. However, we continue to intensify a variety of security measures that include background checks and interviews of people working at the airport. Over time these checks will be conducted repeatedly on each person and at short notice on a schedule that is not easy to anticipate,” she said.