Mahathir scolds airport authorities

Mahathir scolds airport authorities

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has told airport authorities to get on with their jobs and stop blaming each other over a spate of security breaches at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, local newspapers reported yesterday.

He said Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) should be jointly responsible for the supervision of airports.

"MAB and DCA are in charge of security. They should not blame each other," The Sunday Star quoted Mahathir as saying.

Mahathir was commenting on the latest lapse in security where a 36-year-old Indonesian woman managed to slip through all checkpoints to board a Malaysia Airlines flight to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah state without a boarding pass.

On March 15 last year, a 17-year-old boy was found dead in the landing gear compartment of a Malaysia Airlines flight that landed in Johannesburg.