Two Australians a day removed from flights following potential security risk threats
New figures show an average of two Australians per day are being removed from flights by counter-terrorism units on national security grounds.
A large number of the passengers being “removed” are suspected of trying to reach the Middle East to join terrorism organisations.
Figures confirmed by Yahoo7 show that since August 2014, where counter terrorism units have been active there have been 652 “offloads” of passengers in total.
Mostly alarmingly however half of these “offloads” have reportedly occurred in the past seven months resulting in the rate of passenger “removal” increasing by around 60 per cent.
“Offloads” are categorised as interventions to remove people from a flight on suspicion that they may possibly pose a national security risk.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed to Yahoo7 that there has been a significant rise in the total number of people being “offloaded” from aircrafts by counter terrorism units in conjunction with Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police.
Dutton’s office confirmed to Yahoo7 that not all “offloads” were listed as suspicious, however there appeared to be a concerning escalation in the overall number of Australians suspected of attempting to leave to join terrorist networks in both Syria and Iraq.
“A considerable number of people of national security concern have been intercepted by our Counter Terrorism Units at the borders.
“The CTUs have also managed to stop numbers of impressionable young people leaving our country to join terrorist groups overseas,” Dutton said in a statement.
“While the rising number of offloads is a cause for concern at one level, it also highlights the effective and invaluable work the members of the CTUs are doing at our borders by intercepting travellers of concern.”
“This Government is determined to do all it can to protect the Australian community.”
ASIO director general Duncan Lewis told a Senate Estimates hearing the number of passports being cancelled was also “ticking” up every day according to The Daily Telegraph.
“There is a fairly constant turnover of this figure. Almost every day it is ticking up by one or two,” he said.
Airport security has recently come under fire with calls for stricter ID checks to be put in place with 60 people recently being caught flying under false names.
News break – February 29
