Criminals infiltrating Canada's airports: RCMP
Suzanne Fournier, Canwest News Service
December 12, 2008
VANCOUVER -- A national RCMP inquiry has concluded that all of Canada's major airports have been infiltrated by organized crime.
The investigation, dubbed Project Spawn, examined hundreds of police files at Canada's eight largest airports between 2005 and 2007 and concluded hundreds of people were involved in criminal activity at airports, including almost 300 current or former airport employees.
More than 1,000 people not employed at an airport were still able to use connections for criminal purposes.
"Of the 58 organized crime groups included in this report . . . 60% were known to be utilizing Toronto international airport . . . followed by 50% at Vancouver International Airport," said the RCMP report.
The RCMP found the busy Vancouver airport to be highly active behind the scenes: the focus of 100% of counterfeit goods smuggling in Canada, all of the heroin smuggled from India, close to half of all cocaine smuggling in Canada, significant human trafficking and half of all organized crime activity in Canada.
Although the study didn't focus on terrorism, it warned that airport staff compromised by criminal activity can be easily exploited by sophisticated terrorist groups.
"[Airport] staff can be bribed to ignore criminality or paid large sums to assist in drug trafficking or theft," said the RCMP. "Once compromised, such employees may be . . . weak links . . . unable to stand up to terrorists."
Of the organized crime groups identified by the RCMP, 38 operated out of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The RCMP say gangs "corrupt existing employees or [place] criminal associates into the airport workforce."
Fewer than one per cent of employees in high-security airport areas are searched either on their way in or out.
Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said the travelling public, which is still facing confiscation of tiny vials of lotion or tweezers by zealous airport security guards, "will have to see these as seriously frightening statistics."
Since the RCMP "worked backwards" from actual crime files to evidence of organized crime, the numbers probably represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of all criminal activity, Mr. Dosanjh noted.
Mr. Dosanjh criticized the fact federal agencies that do criminal background checks of airport employees don't share information with the RCMP, due to privacy laws.
The report sidesteps the issue, though it admits that "certain information about airport employees that would have been useful in identifying potential criminality . . . was not provided [to RCMP] by Transport Canada."
Don Ehrenholz, operations vice-president for the Vancouver Airport Authority, said "we will be working closely with Transport Canada and the RCMP to investigate what can be done to improve security at the airport."
Mr. Dosanjh said the lack of information-sharing has to stop.
"We wouldn't put someone in charge of say, missiles, with a questionable background, why would we not override the right to privacy in areas such as airport security?"
Chief Supt. Pierre Perron, director-general of criminal intelligence for the RCMP, told Canwest News Service that the report points out the need for greater co-operation and information-sharing between police and federal agencies.
"This report provides greater opportunities to engage our partners at the Vancouver airport, for example, to find solutions to the problem of organized criminal activity," said Chief Supt. Perron, noting that Vancouver is a major port of entry for southern Asia and some Latin American countries.
Chief Supt. Perron noted that "organized criminal operations in general have a transnational nature, meaning that they are working internationally and need to have access to points of entry in Canada, including airports."
Vancouver Province
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Suzanne Fournier, Canwest News Service
December 12, 2008
VANCOUVER -- A national RCMP inquiry has concluded that all of Canada's major airports have been infiltrated by organized crime.
The investigation, dubbed Project Spawn, examined hundreds of police files at Canada's eight largest airports between 2005 and 2007 and concluded hundreds of people were involved in criminal activity at airports, including almost 300 current or former airport employees.
More than 1,000 people not employed at an airport were still able to use connections for criminal purposes.
"Of the 58 organized crime groups included in this report . . . 60% were known to be utilizing Toronto international airport . . . followed by 50% at Vancouver International Airport," said the RCMP report.
The RCMP found the busy Vancouver airport to be highly active behind the scenes: the focus of 100% of counterfeit goods smuggling in Canada, all of the heroin smuggled from India, close to half of all cocaine smuggling in Canada, significant human trafficking and half of all organized crime activity in Canada.
Although the study didn't focus on terrorism, it warned that airport staff compromised by criminal activity can be easily exploited by sophisticated terrorist groups.
"[Airport] staff can be bribed to ignore criminality or paid large sums to assist in drug trafficking or theft," said the RCMP. "Once compromised, such employees may be . . . weak links . . . unable to stand up to terrorists."
Of the organized crime groups identified by the RCMP, 38 operated out of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The RCMP say gangs "corrupt existing employees or [place] criminal associates into the airport workforce."
Fewer than one per cent of employees in high-security airport areas are searched either on their way in or out.
Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said the travelling public, which is still facing confiscation of tiny vials of lotion or tweezers by zealous airport security guards, "will have to see these as seriously frightening statistics."
Since the RCMP "worked backwards" from actual crime files to evidence of organized crime, the numbers probably represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of all criminal activity, Mr. Dosanjh noted.
Mr. Dosanjh criticized the fact federal agencies that do criminal background checks of airport employees don't share information with the RCMP, due to privacy laws.
The report sidesteps the issue, though it admits that "certain information about airport employees that would have been useful in identifying potential criminality . . . was not provided [to RCMP] by Transport Canada."
Don Ehrenholz, operations vice-president for the Vancouver Airport Authority, said "we will be working closely with Transport Canada and the RCMP to investigate what can be done to improve security at the airport."
Mr. Dosanjh said the lack of information-sharing has to stop.
"We wouldn't put someone in charge of say, missiles, with a questionable background, why would we not override the right to privacy in areas such as airport security?"
Chief Supt. Pierre Perron, director-general of criminal intelligence for the RCMP, told Canwest News Service that the report points out the need for greater co-operation and information-sharing between police and federal agencies.
"This report provides greater opportunities to engage our partners at the Vancouver airport, for example, to find solutions to the problem of organized criminal activity," said Chief Supt. Perron, noting that Vancouver is a major port of entry for southern Asia and some Latin American countries.
Chief Supt. Perron noted that "organized criminal operations in general have a transnational nature, meaning that they are working internationally and need to have access to points of entry in Canada, including airports."
Vancouver Province
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
