Moscow Airports Are Highly Secure

Airports of Moscow are highly secure, reported head of the Moscow air and sea transport interior department, police colonel Gennady Gubanov. He reported that immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA, the department was put on high alert and top officials of Russia's power agencies discussed the plan of emergency measures in case a terrorist threat emerges in the air. According to Gubanov, at the present time the department's staffers check the departing passengers, their baggage and cargoes with utmost care. Crew members undergo additional checks, too. Trained dogs are increasingly often used for this purpose. Besides, the heightened security requires that the so-called reciprocal checks be introduced, including checks of arriving passengers. Over the nine months of 2001, the police have detained 250 people under the search warrant. At the present time, the Moscow department is contemplating the possibility of the police escorts on air routes. Many airlines are appealing to the law-enforcement bodies with such a request but some judicial and economic issues are still to be settled. Gubanov also said that in case hijackers seize a plan, the Nabat plan is to be launched, meaning that law-enforcers guided by Russia's FSB /Federal Security Service/ would take all measures needed to eliminate the threat. This plan is being constantly amended and supplemented. Some of the addenda were drafted in the wake of the September 11 terrorist assaults.