Russian passport holder denied boarding due to row with BIA security, Ethiad ground staff

Following an intervention by the Russian Embassy in Colombo and other interested parties, security authorities at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) released a Sri Lankan-born Russian passport holder, detained there on 11 Feb., morning, over an argument he had with some airport security personnel.

The passenger who was detained said that the BIA staff and Etihad Airline ground staff had prevented him boarding the scheduled Colombo-Abu Dhabi flight (EY 265) and subsequently handed him over to the police unit at the airport. He said that he was on his way back to Moscow after being here with a couple of colleagues on a business visit.

According to him, the security staff reacted angrily after he pointed out if it was mandatory for passengers to remove their shoes before passing the metal detector, the airport should provide special footwear for the duration they were without footwear.

“Of course, there was an argument, but how could they detain a passenger without a valid reason?” he said, adding that the police repeatedly asked him to delete the video footage he had of the incident. He alleged he had not been allowed to leave until he deleted the video footage in one of his hand phones whereas the other phone contained two videos.

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Ministry confirms incident but finds fault with passenger

A spokesperson for the Ports, Shipping and Aviation Ministry said if the passenger had complied with rules and regulations in place at all international airports, the unfortunate situation wouldn’t have arisen.

Having passed the security point, the passenger had got into an argument with a member of Etihad ground staff and slapped him while waiting to board the flight, the Spokesman said, adding that the Captain of Etihad flight had refused to take him on board fearing there could be trouble during the flight. He insisted that the BIA staff had never prevented the passenger from boarding the flight but Etihad had done so for security reasons.

(SF)