There are too many weak spots on Eindhoven Airport, where criminals can make their way more easily with drug trafficking, corruption or human trafficking shows. The Marechaussee, RIEC, Defense, the municipality and the airport are now joining forces to tackle those problems.
According to Eindhoven Airport, checks are mainly paid to explosives and firearms. The focus is mainly on aviation safety, with which the airport wants to prevent terrorism, writes Studio040.
Drugs, money laundering or human smuggling receive less attention because it is not a legal obligation of the airport. The municipality, Eindhoven Airport, the Marechaussee and Defense now want to change together.
The parties have an investigation carried out on the safety of the airport. This shows that there are several blind spots during the controls of travelers and luggage.
One of those blind spots is the luggage hall. The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee indicates that there is little supervision there. For example, there is no alarm when the baggage claim is touched. Luggage can therefore be taken for checking the tire and then put in other things.
The Marechaussee cannot look at the camera images in the luggage hall and that is one of the examples in which the collaboration between customs, Marechaussee and security services can be improved.
Bottlenecks in collaboration
The cooperation between the many parties is not only a bottleneck at the check in the luggage hall. There are also bottlenecks beyond, the study says.
Many different parties work at the airport, both public and private. This ensures an unclear division of tasks and responsibility. In addition, there is limited information exchange between investigation services.
The cooperation between the Marechaussee and the police is not good enough. While the business park around the airport is a place where a lot of crime takes place.
There are almost 1200 companies around Eindhoven Airport. These companies can be used for crime around Eindhoven Airport.
Little insight into business park
An analysis shows that the companies in the three areas (Flight Forum, Park Forum and Eindhoven Airport) are less findable, visible and professional than, for example, the companies at Schiphol Airport.
One of the measures that are taken for this is the ‘Knock and Talk’ project. In addition, the companies and talks are contacted with entrepreneurs in order to get a better picture of all the companies around the airport.
There are two more projects that are started. One project, led by customs, wants to make employees of the airport aware of undermining (crime such as money laundering, drug trafficking, corruption and human trafficking), in order to better recognize crime and make employees more resilient.
Under the leadership of the Marechaussee, there is project information sharing. In doing so, we look at how information between all parties involved can be better shared.