Third Security Breach at Halifax Airport in Three Months Delays Travellers

Canada's air security authority was blaming human error, not its procedures, Sunday after a breach at the Halifax International Airport forced police to remove 900 people from the departure area.

Police did not expect to lay charges against the Toronto man involved in the incident, which is the third security breach at the Halifax airport in about three months.

The traveller went through security around 7:30 a.m. Sunday on his way to board a flight to Toronto.

However, he was allowed to leave before screening officers had fully checked his laptop computer.

By the time the computer registered as suspicious with security, the man had already collected the computer and his belongings and moved to the departure area.

RCMP Const. Joe Taplin said the man didn't even realize he had caused a breach.

About 900 people had to be moved out of the secure departure lounge, and were sent back to the main area of the airport.

Police reviewed video footage and were able to identify the man in question among the other travellers.

``An RCMP member at the airport was going through the security tape,'' Taplin explained. ``They got a picture of him off that and then they went down and located him.''

Taplin said the individual did not give police any trouble, and was allowed to carry on to Toronto.

``He was fully co-operative with us.''

There was no word on what had caused the laptop to register as suspicious.

As many as 16 flights were delayed and three cancelled during the incident.

Flights resumed around 11 a.m.

Renee Fairweather, a spokeswoman for Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, placed the blame for the incident squarely on the shoulders of the screening officer who let the passenger go too quickly.

``When you screen electronics, you're supposed to take the passenger's boarding pass, while you're doing the screening,'' Fairweather said.

``Unfortunately, the screening officer did not take the boarding pass.''

The air transport authority was formed as part of the federal government's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

``It was definitely the screening officers who didn't follow the procedure,'' Fairweather said.

``We'll be looking at it very closely, speaking with the supervisor who was on duty to get all the details, and assessing what action may need to be taken.''

A spokeswoman for the airport also said the incident would be reviewed.

``It's somethihg that we certainly take very seriously,'' said spokeswoman Karen Sinclair.

``We'll be looking at the players involved and reviewing and debriefing and insisting that things (are) done according to the procedures.''

Less than a month ago a similar evacuation occurred at the airport when a man carrying a bag passed through security without being checked, but was never seen again.

And, in June, a man climbed over a barbed-wire fence at the airport, walked through an unlocked back door and hid above the ceiling tiles in a washroom overnight.

He was arrested as he tried to board a plane the next day without a boarding pass and carrying a box-cutter.

Three planes on the tarmac were evacuated at the time.

Vlad Sandulescu, 29, later told a provincial court he had wanted to leave the country but couldn't afford a ticket.

He pleaded guilty to a charge under the Aeronautics Act, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.