Thailand's international airport is surrounded by its tightest security yet ahead of this month's APEC summit of 21 world leaders, but airlines and security experts warn there are major gaps in the armor.
Troops have already deployed across Bangkok's Don Muang airport, and Thai Airways International security chief Pricha Sukchai said tanks will roll onto the tarmac next week along with a security contingent of 1,300 personnel.
"We are at code red now. Every-thing is at 100 percent strength," he said as the Oct. 20 to Oct. 21 APEC meeting neared.
But despite several publicized security steps, and many more which authorities refuse to discuss in detail, the sprawling facility in suburban Bangkok is seen by industry experts as one of the least secure in the region.
Pricha said Thai Airways remains "concerned," particularly about a series of recent security scares, including reports that surface-to-air missiles smuggled into Thailand from Cambodia were being hunted by authorities.
"There are all kinds of security problems in that airport," said an executive at an international carrier who asked not to be identified.
He said the frontline security system at Don Muang is poor, with passengers allowed to to through immigration and into a cavernous duty-free hall without passing through a metal detector. Easy vehicular access right up to the front doors of passenger terminals is also a concern.
Other risks at the airport, one of Asia's busiest, include an antiquated baggage-security system that sends screened baggage back into the temporary possession of passengers before they check in.
Three security experts interviewed from Singapore last month named the airport as an area of concern in Asia.
Andrew Tan of Singapore's Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies said Don Muang was the most obvious target for a surface-to-air missile strike because of its location so close to the city, next to a golf course and with flight paths going over highways and populated areas.
The dozens of international carriers flying in and out of Bangkok see the APEC meeting as an opportunity to highlight Don Muang's security status.
One major concern is an air force-owned golf course abutting the airport's runways. Terrorists armed with missiles could slip onto the fairways for a clear shot at an airliner, industry leaders have said.
With the August arrest in Thailand of suspected terror mastermind Hambali, and his reported confession that al-Qaeda planned to attack passenger planes and other targets in Bangkok, the scenario has raised alarms.
"We feel that the golf course is a huge security risk for this airport. We have been asking for a number of years that it be closed," said a spokesman for the Board of Airline Representatives, which counts 65 carriers as members in Bangkok.
"It is a shame the people of Thailand can not recognize the danger of having a golf course between the two runways of a major international airport," the spokesman said.
Thailand has debated closing the course for years, and has shut it down this month due to APEC, but Pricha said Thai Airways has been told the air force will reopen the course after the summit.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has bristled at the charges that Thailand is at heightened risk, but he and his administration have also admitted to security scares.
Thaksin last month confirmed that terrorists had plotted to launch an attack on an Israeli El Al airliner in Bangkok, while ministers in his Cabinet admitted authorities were on the hunt for smuggled missiles.
Although Thaksin later downplayed the missile concerns, saying such weapons smuggled into Thailand would be too old to be used accurately, the military was taking no chances.
On Thursday they began training thousands of taxi drivers and motorcyclists in how to spot shoulder-launched missiles and the terrorists who could use them.
In a further bid to soothe safety fears, top government and airport officials staged a walk-through at Don Muang on Friday to highlight security efforts.
"These will be the strictest security measures ever applied at our airport," its general manager Flight Lieutenant Yom Ngonrath said.
That means intensified random X-ray searches of checked baggage and inspections of catering services for biochemical threats, snipers on every rooftop and teams of undercover commandos.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia