Incoming passenger (+transit) screening at Changi airport?

[taxico]

google "Extra screening at Changi Airport possible" - this might become the norm in future across all terminals, especially if any significant terror attacks happen (more a "when" than an "if").

apparently random people have been screened at T3 as a trial. this supposedly targets transiting passengers as a security measure...

as the database are now pretty much all linked, i caution singapore NS defaulters to be wary and keep track of this development.

[x9200]

Taxico, see my posts in this thread:
http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/viewtopic.php?t=114618

If there was any random element in it, it was on the flight level. Everybody got screened.

[taxico]

i can't post the details of the ST article... so you'll have to read it and judge for yourself.

it may be a matter of time as, in general and recently, the airport authorities seem to be clamping down on people behaving badly air side.

[ecureilx]

There was a time when all flights departing T1 Manila were screened upon arrival in Singapore, but not those leaving T2 or T3.

[Strong Eagle]

There was a time when all flights departing T1 Manila were screened upon arrival in Singapore, but not those leaving T2 or T3.

Yes, I left Singapore at the end of 2012, and I was screened arriving from Manila, as above. Also once coming in from Bangkok, and once coming in from KL... so fer sure, this is nothing new... I just wonder what actually sets it off.

[MikeJones]

As per my comment in the other thread, the 5pm flight from Manila (SQ919) last Friday, had the extra screening on arrival. I was on the same flight a month ago, and the earlier 2pm flight (SQ917) in October and September with no extra screening. I wonder what triggers it as well.

I'm pretty sure that all the previous flights had arrived at Changi T2 (E & F gates) while the extra screening only seems to be at T3 (a few A gates), so I wonder if they're specifically targeting the flight and moving it's arrival to a different gate/terminal or it was just luck of the draw?

Also the description in the ST article about photos taken and extra passport checks is either nonsense or describing some completely different procedure as the extra screening I had was just a bag scan and go through a metal detector again, no-one even asked to see my passport and there were no cameras or photos taken.

Mike

[Strong Eagle]

Agree with MikeJones... bag check, metal detector, nothing more. But, all my screens were in T2.

[ScoobyDoes]

Bag checks upon landing have been going on for years, on a flight-by-flight basis.

I've been checked on flights from Bangkok and Jakarta both when flying SQ and others so has been both T1 and T2

[rajagainstthemachine]

As per my comment in the other thread, the 5pm flight from Manila (SQ919) last Friday, had the extra screening on arrival. I was on the same flight a month ago, and the earlier 2pm flight (SQ917) in October and September with no extra screening. I wonder what triggers it as well.

I'm pretty sure that all the previous flights had arrived at Changi T2 (E & F gates) while the extra screening only seems to be at T3 (a few A gates), so I wonder if they're specifically targeting the flight and moving it's arrival to a different gate/terminal or it was just luck of the draw?

Also the description in the ST article about photos taken and extra passport checks is either nonsense or describing some completely different procedure as the extra screening I had was just a bag scan and go through a metal detector again, no-one even asked to see my passport and there were no cameras or photos taken.

Mike

we were on the same flight!

[MikeJones]

Yeah I wondered about that when I added my post to the other thread

Mike

[taxico]

i think i'll add some concluding remarks from some public articles i've seen in the last 6 months of 2016...

there're more people getting charged in court for going airside with a (i assume refundable) ticket and no intention of boarding their flights.

there's also a chap from sri lanka that flew into changi to swap passports and tickets with a brit in the toilet (pre-arranged) for an onward flight elsewhere under a new identity.

and there's the fellow who printed his own fake e-tickets and repeatedly visited 5 lounges across all 3 terminals during his 18-day stay... airside.

(in another related piece of news, two indonesians who arrived by fast ferry from batam were detained for their suspicious travel plans to syria by air and returned.)

i'm know that there are more that goes unreported. whether they all played a role in the ST article, i can only hazard a guess.

but i'm pretty sure airport security (and preventing terrorism) is something taken quite seriously by the local government.

afterall ICA and changi airport were the crack agencies that allowed a singapore man to use his air ticket + his son's passport (taken by mistake) to successfully fly all the way to the passport control desk in vietnam.

(contraband items are already regularly being brought through the airport or transited through changi - i've seen people passing around a dime bag of weed on a plane departing T1.)

it would not be extreme to state that it is highly likely an NS defaulter CAN be picked up during such extra screenings if the databases are all linked (they are) + future ML improvements (machine learning is already used today by SG intelligence agencies).

with that... my input to this thread ends.

[rajagainstthemachine]

how did you know there was a dime bag of weed? could have been some green tea rolled up :p

[Hidy Ho]

I recently came back from Bangkok (Jan 7th), after Christmas/New Year break, and no secondary screening on the return.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I returned from Hanoi Jan 10th no screening on arrival.

[ScoobyDoes]

I returned from Hanoi Jan 10th no screening on arrival.

Nobody brings anything back from Hanoi except a case of the clap.