A man was arrested after allegedly entering the apron at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) on Sunday, the Aviation Police Bureau said yesterday.
The unnamed man, who is in his 20s and was allegedly drunk at the time, was walking on Minchuang E Road to his apartment early in the morning when he turned into a street leading to the airport’s cargo terminal by mistake, the bureau said.
The area through which he entered the airport is managed by Central Taiwan Science Park Logistics Co, it said.
Security guards did not notice the man entering the terminal area, as they were watching over workers who were handling cargo, the bureau said, adding that the man entered the airport’s restricted area at about 6:16am.
Air traffic control officers at 6:23am notified the bureau that they had spotted a man walking on the apron, it said, adding that police officers immediately stopped and arrested him.
The bureau denied media reports that the man had slept on the apron the night before and that he was found near the nation’s presidential aircraft.
The man was stopped near the cargo terminal, not on an apron used by military aircraft as reported, it added.
When asked about the man’s motives, police said that he entered the restricted area by mistake, without elaborating.
The bureau said it would increase the number of patrols in the area and ask the logistics firm to abide by its own safety rules.
The man faces a fine of between NT$5,000 and NT$20,000 in accordance with the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), it said.
It was not the first such case at an international airport in Taiwan.
In July 2011, a 48-year-old woman entered a restricted area at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport through a crack between a cement wall and barbed wire and boarded a China Airlines aircraft.
She was not found until the cabin crew of the aircraft conducted a routine inspection before takeoff.
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