In a major security breach, a man went through Dublin Airport and boarded a flight without producing a passport or boarding pass on Monday evening, March 27.
48-year-old Abdul Ahmead was fined €700 after boarding the Aer Lingus flight to Birmingham at Dublin Airport without providing any documents.
He was charged with trespassing with intent to commit an offence and with failure to produce a valid passport or similar document as a non-national in the State.
He was fined €350 for each charge.
Ahmead was able to move through security screening at Terminal 2 and pass airline staff at the gate to then board the airplane—despite not having shown a boarding pass or passport.
Boarding passes at Terminal 2 are checked manually by a staff member, as opposed to an automated system in Terminal 1.
Airport Police removed Ahmead from a seat he had taken on board the 7.05pm flight to Birmingham.
Ahmead, of Stanton Street, Newcastle, UK, was arrested at Terminal 2. He appeared before the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin city centre yesterday morning where he was fined.
Aviation security is highly regulated at international, European and national levels and all regulated entities, including airport operators, are required to comply with rigorous standards and are subject to national and international oversight.
Inspections and testing of security controls at Irish airports are conducted at national level by the Irish Aviation Authority in accordance with EU Regulation 18/2010, and at European level by the European Commission in accordance with EU Regulation 72/2010.
The results of these inspections are evaluated, and corrective actions and system improvements are implemented where required. We cannot comment on specific aspects of aviation security operations as this is highly security-sensitive.
DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport issued a perfunctory comment today upon the news of the development:
“We never comment on security matters for obvious reasons. We note the speedy apprehension of the individual in this case by Airport Police, who was caught trespassing without a boarding card after being security screened, and his subsequent arrest by An Garda Síochána and successful prosecution before the courts. As with any such incident an internal review is underway.”
