Posted on 08/28/2006 2:58:00 PM PDT by samsonite
NEW DELHI: Unknown to most, the airport security in India has started to conduct passenger profiling. Even before the trans-Atlantic air terror plot prompted UK to introduce its new security measure of seeking in advance the profiles of all air passengers coming into the country, India had quietly joined a small band of 11 countries where such profiling is already being done.
Though yet to be made official, the home ministry discreetly introduced Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) in July, asking international airline pilots flying to India to provide information about the passengers and crew on board within 15 minutes of taking off. The system is on a trial run at New Delhi’s IGI airport and will be extended to other international airports in the country after it’s streamlined here.
Under APIS, each flight coming into India is expected to provide details like complete name, date of birth, nationality, sex, passport number, country where passport was issued, country of permanent residence and visa particulars of all persons in the airplane to authorities at destination airports.
Though the information would first be passed on to immigration authorities for faster immigration clearance, the data will be shared with security agencies for tracking ‘suspicious’ individuals.
A ministry official said: "The threat posed by international terrorism post 9\11 cannot be handled without such precautionary measures. Passenger profiles will help security agencies to cross-check authenticity of the information from their own sources in advance. Besides, it will also help sleuths to keep tabs on visitors who overstay in India."
According to the Union home ministry, which incidentally missed two deadlines — October 1, 2005 and May 1, 2006 — of introducing this system in India, APIS will be extended to other international airports including Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai after the authorities find it fully functional at New Delhi.
How dare they use common sense to protect their citizens. Where's Amnesty International, or the ACLU.
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