Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Vanuatu airport security reviewed after artillery shell

Posted at 01:37 on 22 October, 2012 UTC

The company responsible for security at Vanuatu’s main airport says they are investigating an incident where a man boarded a flight with an artillery shell in his luggage.

The man got on the flight at the international airport in Port Vila on Saturday and the shell was only discovered when he arrived in Auckland and declared the item to customs staff.

Airport Vanuatu Limited’s Kevin Dick Abel says they are taking the incident seriously.

He says it could either be human error or a defective x-ray machine.

“We have brought in the whole shift that were working that morning, been brought in for questioning and we’re looking through all our CCTV tapes and through the screening machine, there’s an archive system in there in which we are going through the log.”

Kevin Dick Abel says the company has a very good record and its machines are regularly audited.

It’s believed the man found the artillery shell while diving in Vanuatu.