Airport boss: Structural measures to increase security
Following the hostage-taking last weekend, the head of Hamburg Airport, Michael Eggenschwiler, has announced structural measures to improve security. "It is clear to us that we will implement further structural measures to strengthen possible access points to the security area," said Eggenschwiler on Tuesday. Security technicians had already carried out initial checks on Sunday. He could not go into the details of the planned precautions. A security concept should not be discussed in public.
Following the intrusion by climate activists last July, the number of patrols at the airport fence had already been increased. Tests with new cameras and fence sensors are also underway, said Eggenschwiler. Ten members of the Last Generation group cut open the fence on July 13 and rode towards the tarmac on bicycles. According to the federal police, four of them had stuck to access roads near the runways.
On Saturday, a 35-year-old man had broken through the access restrictions to Hamburg Airport in a car and driven onto the airport apron. The background to this was a custody dispute: According to the public prosecutor's office, the man wanted to use the action to force the joint departure to Turkey with his daughter, who had previously been forcibly abducted from his ex-wife's apartment in Stade (Lower Saxony). The hostage-taker only surrendered to the security forces after around 18 hours of negotiations.
Despite the enhanced security measures after the airport fence intrusion by climate activists, there have been instances of unauthorized access. Therefore, there's a proposed increase in air traffic surveillance to deter such crimes. This was implied when Eggenschwiler mentioned testing new cameras and fence sensors to strengthen security, suggesting a focus on monitoring air traffic areas.
Source: www.dpa.com
