High flyers hit a new low in paradise
Three Sundays ago I read in a Sri Lankan newspaper a letter to the editor from an irate traveller. Should some people travelling abroad be exempt from security checks at the Katunayake Airport while others have to stand in queues and have all their bags searched, he asked angrily.

Letter writer Desmond Perera of Colombo 6, complained that while he was waiting to have his bags security cleared like every traveller is expected to do, a "foreign gentleman" brazenly walked past the Air Force personnel who inspect the bags and went directly to the airline check-in counter. Let Desmond Perera now pick up the story in his words.

"Another security officer who must have noticed the foreign gentleman not being checked approached those doing the checking and inquired as to why he was allowed to pass. His colleague's very casual reply was that "he" never stops and so they don't check "him".

Writer Perera's curiosity now well and truly roused he made a rather casual inquiry about the identity of this 'gentleman' when he himself reached the airline check-in counter.

Lo and behold, the man, happened to be somebody called Walter Riggans, a senior manager at SriLankan Airlines. If poor Desmond Perera was shocked, I was stupefied just on reading it.

Now I do not know whether Perera, anxious to get over the security checks and board the plane, simply failed to notice this foreign gentleman have his bags checked. But the brief conversation between the security personnel seemed to suggest that what he related was what actually happened that day.

I am not certain if the foreigner concerned has been correctly identified as Walter Riggans of SriLankan Airlines. The name was given to him by a person who was on duty at the time, I presume at the Business Class check-in counter for a person who brushes past security is unlikely to sit with the hoi polloi.

Who knows, the person who mentioned the name could have been wrong. Yet one wonders. Would a SriLankan Airlines staffer- it is personnel from the airline who man these counters- be unable to identify one of the expatriate managers?

Well, in the normal course of events they would know who is who and the general pecking order in the carrier in which they work. Supposing, just supposing, writer Perera had been misinformed and has made a horrible mistake in his naming of names.

Then one could rightly expect SriLankan Airlines to send a strongly worded denial that such an incident ever happened or Walter Riggans himself to protest at his name being dragged in over a matter that has serious consequences for airport security and indeed for security on the national airline.

So the next Sunday I eagerly scanned the newspaper concerned expecting to see a SriLankan Airline reply taking umbrage at one of its high flying expatriate managers being accused of breaching security.

Surely if anybody from SriLankan Airlines-or for that matter from anywhere else- had knowingly ignored security checks then it is a gross violation of prevailing rules and regulations.

That was all the more reason why the national carrier should have promptly written to the newspaper concerned contradicting Desmond Perera's story. No newspaper that I know of would have ignored such a letter of denial because the newspaper itself is liable in law for publishing unchecked and wrong news and information. At least it can plead in mitigation if on the very first available occasion it publishes a denial or apologises.

Though I searched and searched, from the first page to the last, I could not find any response from the airline. Even if the offending person identified as a SriLankan Airline's manager is still abroad, the airline is duty bound to clear its name at the earliest opportunity.

Like any airline that must be security conscious in this day and age when terrorists carry explosives hidden in the heels of their shoes and other unexpected places, SriLankan should be aware of the importance of checking the baggage of all passengers before they board the aircraft.

Sri Lanka and the world are well aware how some 20 years or so ago an aircraft belonging to Air Lanka, the predecessor to SriLankan Airlines was blown up with explosives smuggled aboard with the help of persons with some connection with the airline.

In these circumstances, the lack of a response from the airline a week later to the charge against one of its expatriate managers leads one to assume that Desmond Perera's remark might contain much truth.

If it is true-and so far I have not seen anything to the contrary- then it is an extremely serious allegation. It not only brings the entire airline into disrepute but also potentially endangers the lives of those who fly in it.

This is not to say that Walter Riggans-if he is the person who acted in this irresponsible manner-is carrying forbidden material on board. Surely not unless he has suicidal tendencies or likes to martyr himself for some undisclosed cause.

But what is to stop others from introducing explosives or other inflammable material into his baggage. That has been done innumerable times throughout the world. Drugs, stolen or smuggled diamonds and even bombs have been carried across frontiers by persons who had no knowledge they were doing so.

The risk is even greater when it is known, as Perera says citing the conversation he overheard, that this foreigner employed by SriLankan regularly avoids having his bags checked.

This raises some important issues. Does being a foreigner in Sri Lanka confer some special privileges on expatriates that they can even endanger the lives of citizens and foreigners alike with such impunity?

Whatever the colour of Walter Riggans' skin he is subject to the laws and regulations of Sri Lanka like everybody else.Unfortunately for us the tattered remnants of colonialism still linger in this world and those Colonel Blimps believe that we are still a part of the extended Raj.

Next, what about the Air Force personnel doing the security checks. If this has been going on for some time, and possibly some other expatriate SriLankan officials might also be acting in a like manner, then it is a grave dereliction of duty. We have already had the experience of the attack on the airport by Tiger terrorists where some Air Force personnel appear to have been derelict.

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