A 10-year-old boy managed to bypass up to seven security checkpoints at the international airport in the Iraqi city of Najaf and sneak onto a plane to beg for alms from passengers, security and airfield sources said Wednesday.
“A 10-year-old boy managed to bypass seven security barriers inside the airport and reached the plane, where he was stopped by security personnel,” airport director Hekmat Ahmed said in a statement.
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For his part, a Najaf police colonel who requested anonymity explained to EFE news agency that the incident took place on Tuesday morning and, when he was finally intercepted, the minor admitted that he did not have a ticket and that he only wanted to ask passengers for money.
The boy was handed over to airport security forces and all passengers were forced to leave the plane to recheck all their documentation.
Authorities at the airport, the second largest in Iraq after Baghdad, opened an investigation to identify and punish those responsible for the security breach.
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For his part, the airport director assured that the child did not represent any kind of danger, because he was subjected to all the security controls, but that he was able to pass through them because of his age and because he was passing with the travelers as if he were one of them.
“There is an investigation committee that is working to find out how everything happened, and depending on the results, those responsible for this incident are going to be sanctioned, fired or transferred,” the airport said in its statement.
“New procedures are also going to be implemented to increase airport security,” the release added.
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