Australia boosts airport checks

VIGILANCE:The increased checks will continue ‘as long as they need to,’ the minister for immigration said, advising people to arrive three hours early for international flights
Stricter screening of passengers and luggage at Australian airports is to stay in place indefinitely after police foiled a plot to bring down an airplane, which local media said might have involved a bomb or poisonous gas.

The ramped up security procedures were put in place after four men were arrested over the weekend in raids conducted across several Sydney suburbs.

The men are being held without charge under special terror-related powers.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) would not confirm media reports that the alleged plot might have involved a bomb disguised in a meat grinder or the planned release of poisonous gas inside a plane.

AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin yesterday told reporters that the plot specifics were still being investigated.

“What you are seeing at the moment is making sure that there is extra vigilance to make sure that we aren’t cutting any corners in our security, to make sure that we are absolutely focused on our security,” Colvin said.

Police yesterday were still searching several Sydney properties for evidence.

Photographs showed forensic specialist officers wearing masks and plastic jumpsuits inside the properties and combing through trash cans outside.

Australian Minister of Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton yesterday told reporters in Melbourne that the alleged plot to down an aircraft could prompt longer-term airport security changes.

“The security measures at the airports will be in place for as long as we believe they need to be, so it may go on for some time yet,” Dutton said.

He advised passengers to arrive at airports three hours before international flights and two hours for domestic flights to clear the heightened security.

Interstate travelers are subjected to far less scrutiny than those traveling abroad with no formal identification checks required for domestic trips.

Passengers at major Australian airports, including Sydney, experienced longer-than-usual queues during the busy Monday morning travel period. A witness said the queues had disappeared at Sydney Airport by lunch time.

A source at a major Australian carrier said airlines and airports had been instructed by the government to ramp up baggage checks as a result of the threat, with some luggage searches being conducted as passengers queued to check in their bags.

Separately yesterday, three men yesterday pleaded guilty in the New South Wales Supreme Court to “conspiracy to commit acts in preparation for a terrorist act or acts” in 2014, a court spokeswoman said, while another two pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Police previously said the men planned an attack on targets which included the AFP headquarters in Sydney, along with civilian targets. The offenses are not related to the alleged plane bomb plot.