Dr. Edward Simon was arrested in Trinidad and Tobago when he landed at the Piarco International Airport with his firearm in his hand luggage. He has been placed on a one-year bond.
We all know Dr. Simon. He was at one time the nation’s leading pathologist. Today, he is sought by many to represent their interest whenever they appear to have little or no confidence in the official pathologist. One of the more high profile cases involving Dr. Simon was that of Mark Thomas, whose sudden death at the Georgetown Public Hospital raised a number of questions.
According to the reports, Dr. Simon was heading to Trinidad and Tobago for a conference. He checked in at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, submitted his luggage for the usual scrutiny, made even more rigid since terrorists leveled the World Trade Centre and attacked the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and was cleared to board the flight. His woes began when he landed at the Piarco International Airport.
How could Dr. Simon have passed through the various checkpoints with his firearm without being detected? In the same way, a man or woman with draconian motives could have done the same and created terror in the skies. If Dr. Simon had the same inclinations at those who hijacked the aircraft over the United States on September 11, 2001 then he could have taken control of the aircraft.
The Trinidadian authorities said that Dr. Simon’s pistol was in his briefcase. That briefcase had to pass through a scanner manned by a number of people. The pistol is metal and it had to show up. It has a distinctive shape. How did that escape the notice of the people manning the scanner?
The same thing happened a few years ago when Asgar Ally, a former Finance Minister landed in Canada. He had left Guyana with his firearm, undetected, and it was not that he sneaked his way out of Guyana. He was no longer a government official so he had to undergo all the formalities for departure. Something has to be horribly wrong at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. That airport is supposed to have state-of-the-art equipment installed after the problems in the United States. That was one of the prerequisites and the government went to great lengths to spend money that could have gone to other things. Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon seems to know what is the problem and from his perspective, the problem is human. When questioned about the Dr. Simon affair, the people at the airport reportedly said that they have to work long hours and that they were tired.
Regardless of how tired an individual is there are some things that would jar the attention. A pistol in a suitcase would be one of them. In this case it seems as if the people manning the scanner do not really check to see if anything illegal is being taken out.
Dr. Luncheon said that the equipment is supposed to detect any substance with the same density as cocaine. He told the local press that during one of his inspections he happened to learn that some part of the equipment had been switched off. The American with him had earlier informed him that the equipment was top of the line.
Dr. Luncheon concluded that people with a propensity for mischief would always find ways and means of short-circuiting any piece of equipment installed to protect the interests of the country. Was some part of the scanner switched off to facilitate some illegal activity? Was Dr. Simon an unfortunate beneficiary of that act? If indeed he was, then we should be prepared to accept the fact that those who fly cannot be guaranteed their safety. Anyone who has a grouse could inflict serious harm on passengers and damage to the aircraft.
When the news of Dr. Simon’s plight in Trinidad and Tobago broke, one would have expected an immediate investigation. To the best of our knowledge, none has been ordered. It could be that we are prepared to accept mediocrity, even when it comes to matters of security. In any other country, someone would have been sacked but this is not the case in this instance. We must be the worse people when it comes to implementing serious measures.
Perhaps we are too corrupt to be inhibited with anything put in place to limit our corruption.