The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia Lax security measures at Cambodian airports need to be urgently overhauled to prevent criminal activity and terrorist acts, officials said Wednesday.
Cambodia has failed to boost security at its two main airports to international standards in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Keo Saphal, the undersecretary of state for Cambodia's Civil Aviation Authority, said at a one-day national workshop on airport security.
Security breaches abound at the Phnom Penh International Airport, the main gateway to Cambodia, several officials said. The country's other main airport is at Siem Reap, used by travelers headed to the country's famed Angkor temples.
In the capital, airport police have been caught working as "guides" to bring relatives of passengers into restricted areas, Bun Ny, the airport's security chief, told the gathering of 300 government officials.
The problem could "inevitably one day create a danger," he said, urging an "immediate rectification ... for strengthening security and safety" at the airport.
In some cases, security officials have made "threatening phone calls" to each other to get ahead in their careers and win credit for cracking down on drug trafficking, Bun Ny said.
He urged the government to adopt and enforce rules to "eradicate shortcomings and other anarchical acts" among airport security agents.
The meeting, the first of its kind in Cambodia, was intended to form a "master plan of harmonized enforcement measures" to tackle Cambodia's civil aviation issues, Keo Saphal said without elaborating.
Part of the problem is a lack of centralization. Airport security is handled by various governmental units, including members of the police, immigration, customs department, commerce ministry and military police.
Bun Ny said that as the security chief at Phnom Penh airport he wields little power over the various units because they answer to bosses at different ministries.
A draft of new regulations distributed at the meeting demanded that all airport security agents clean up their acts or face punitive measures under the law.
Sok An, a deputy prime minister who presided over the meeting, said there is "no more room for negligence" about airport security.
Cambodia has failed to boost security at its two main airports to international standards in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Keo Saphal, the undersecretary of state for Cambodia's Civil Aviation Authority, said at a one-day national workshop on airport security.
Security breaches abound at the Phnom Penh International Airport, the main gateway to Cambodia, several officials said. The country's other main airport is at Siem Reap, used by travelers headed to the country's famed Angkor temples.
In the capital, airport police have been caught working as "guides" to bring relatives of passengers into restricted areas, Bun Ny, the airport's security chief, told the gathering of 300 government officials.
The problem could "inevitably one day create a danger," he said, urging an "immediate rectification ... for strengthening security and safety" at the airport.
In some cases, security officials have made "threatening phone calls" to each other to get ahead in their careers and win credit for cracking down on drug trafficking, Bun Ny said.
He urged the government to adopt and enforce rules to "eradicate shortcomings and other anarchical acts" among airport security agents.
The meeting, the first of its kind in Cambodia, was intended to form a "master plan of harmonized enforcement measures" to tackle Cambodia's civil aviation issues, Keo Saphal said without elaborating.
Part of the problem is a lack of centralization. Airport security is handled by various governmental units, including members of the police, immigration, customs department, commerce ministry and military police.
Bun Ny said that as the security chief at Phnom Penh airport he wields little power over the various units because they answer to bosses at different ministries.
A draft of new regulations distributed at the meeting demanded that all airport security agents clean up their acts or face punitive measures under the law.
Sok An, a deputy prime minister who presided over the meeting, said there is "no more room for negligence" about airport security.
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