COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
Country of Origin Information Service<br />
<strong>UK</strong> <strong>Border</strong> <strong>Agency</strong><br />
5 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
Dear Colleague,<br />
Re: Exit and Entry Procedures at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo<br />
The British High Commission in Colombo routinely monitors the departure and arrival<br />
procedures at Colombo‘s Bandaranaike International Airport in respect of not just enforced or<br />
voluntary returnees, but all of the travelling public. This letter compliments the report of the FCO<br />
information gathering visit to Colombo – August 2009 and replaces any previous letters issued<br />
by the British High Commission in Colombo regarding this subject.<br />
Exit Procedures<br />
For departing passengers, staff and visitors to the airport there is a permanent checkpoint<br />
manned by the Sri Lankan Air Force, positioned on the airport road leading to the terminal<br />
buildings. Lanes are divided between Staff / Cars & Vans / Vans & Buses / Tourist buses /<br />
Taxis. Air Force personnel manning the checkpoint approach each vehicle and ascertain if the<br />
occupants are passengers, staff or visitors. Pedestrians are also checked. Departing<br />
passengers often have to produce confirmation of ticketing and/or a passport. Staff must<br />
produce their airport ID card. Sri Lankan visitors to the airport, including drivers, often have to<br />
produce their national ID card. The registration numbers of all vehicles are written manually into<br />
a register. During heightened security situations e.g. conferences, state visits etc., the number<br />
of checkpoints may increase along roads leading to the airport, especially along the main A3<br />
from Colombo. The police or the military can man these.<br />
The airport is split into two main terminal buildings; departure and arrivals. The departure area<br />
is restricted to departing passengers, staff, and visitors holding a ‗day pass‘ issued from an<br />
adjacent ticket booth. Persons obtaining a ‗day pass‘ have to produce a copy of their ID card or<br />
passport or driving licence, plus present the original document. Their details are recorded<br />
manually in a register. Before entering the departure terminal a security guard requires<br />
evidence of airline ticketing (and sometimes passports), staff ID cards or a day pass. Persons<br />
not holding these documents are not allowed into to the departure terminal. Immediately behind<br />
the security guard there are security checks where all bags and belongings are passed through<br />
scanners. All persons then pass through a scanner. Regardless of whether or not the detector<br />
alarm is activated, persons are then frisked by a security guard. Both male and female security<br />
staff are stationed at each checkpoint. Having passed through these security checks, persons<br />
walk through a long corridor and into the main departure area.<br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
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