Ghana Strengthens Airport Security

Ghana becomes the second African nation to upgrade its airline security with the installation of a Soter through-body X-Ray security scanner. Bought from OD Security by the US government and donated to Ghana as part of a programme to boost security at airports that have been identified as ports of embarkation for drugs mules bound for the US.

Although the programme was originally conceived to combat the narcotics trade, following the recent attempt to blow up a US bound aircraft, the Soter will be used to scan selected passengers who have been identified as posing a possible security risk. Unlike millimetre wave and back scatter scanners being widely deployed elsewhere, the SOTER provides a through-body X-Ray image that can detect any objects hidden in or on the human body within just 10 seconds, negating the need for intrusive strip searches.

In combination with passenger profiling, low dose x-ray scanning offers a much more effective, cheaper and less disruptive security procedure than mass screening and relying on the inferior image quality of microwave and backscatter scanners. The Soter will detect any metallic or non-metallic objects, such as narcotics, explosives, precious stones, plastic weapons or other contraband, hidden under clothes or in natural cavities within the human body. Other than the conventional intrusive strip searches there is no other way of detecting these items carried internally.

Installed at Accra International Airport in January the unit is now fully operational and 6 members of the Ghanaian security staff have undergone intensive training at the OD Security training centre in The Netherlands. The first country to receive scanners under this US programme was Nigeria who have four operational units at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abudja International Airports. Nigerian Airport staff have also completed the OD Security training programme and the units are fully operational.