GhanaAir Drug Arrest Raise Questions About Airport Security

The management of Ghana Airways has launched an investigation into a drug trafficking case involving one of its cabin attendants who was arrested in London?s Heathrow airport on Sunday.

The airline?s public affairs manager, Bannerman Bruce, confirmed in an interview with Joy News that Michael Grantson was arrested for carrying a substance believed to be a narcotic drug.

The investigation will focus on how he managed to smuggle the drug on board the plane without detection. Aviation officials at the Kotoka airport told Joy News that airline crews are subjected to screening just like passengers.

However, the incident has once again raised the issue of security at the airport coming after the recent discovery of a young man who attempted to stowaway on a Ghana Airways flight bound for New York.

Two years ago, two young boys were found dead in the undercarriage of a Ghana Airways plane after it landed at Heathrow airport.

The incidents have raised questions about the quality of security at the nation?s only international Airport Kotoka but the Director of Security at the Kotoka Airport, Group Captain George Aryeetey says it?s really no big deal.

''The drug arrest came as a big surprise to me because the cabin like all passengers are subjected to checks but there is no security system which is full proof. Talk of loopholes at the airport though is just a perception.'', he said.

''These things happen even in places with electronic surveillances and others. You must only reduce the frequency.''

But he promised that the men at the airport would are determined to give Kotoka a better security image.

''We want to boost security at the airport. We are installing more state of the art equipments to check but if you want to apply it stringently, you would inconvenience people. So we do random sampling and search at times.''