T3 closed due to stabbing

[Chris Griffiths]

I noted Craig's earlier (now edited) reference to Macquarie and Nigels point about not commenting as matter is in hands of Police.

MAp would be out of this loop anyway as I understand that T3 is the part of SYD not operated by them, is this still true?

Cheers

[NickN]

There won't be any holding when some lame magistrate grants them all bail. Sad to say that is the confidence I have in the judicial system of late. Too many dissapointing decisions and slap-on-the-wrist type penalties.

[Bernie P]

Originally Posted by NickN

There won't be any holding when some lame magistrate grants them all bail. Sad to say that is the confidence I have in the judicial system of late. Too many dissapointing decisions and slap-on-the-wrist type penalties.

I am afraid that I do not share your 'confidence' in the judicial system! Reasonable note on Friday with a said former Judge sends a pretty good message I think!

Regardless of all of this, I am still shocked at the open-ness (sp) of where this took place, and the inability (so far) of not being able to get these people! Surely every square foot of the terminal is under camera. I would be interested to know, how long did it take security in the terminal to see in unfolding (on monitors somewhere?), to the time they got to where it took place?

[Andrew P]

Originally Posted by Sarah C

I can only think of one word - idiots!

actually very bright, where else but an airport would the opposition gang not be in possession of their weapons

Banjo

[Rhys Xanthis]

Originally Posted by Andrew P

actually very bright, where else but an airport would the opposition gang not be in possession of their weapons

Banjo

fair call lol, but the chances of you getting away with it = 0!

[Graham B]

Originally Posted by Gareth Forwood

Ch 10 said this was a bikie revenge killing... But yeah, pretty stupid doing it with all the surveillance around there. The Ch 10 report also said that the attackers were able to get away in taxis - doesn't say much for the volumes of security that are in place within the terminal.

How the hell did they manage to get a taxi at the airport so quickly????

Benjo

[Sarah C]

Originally Posted by Graham B

How the hell did they manage to get a taxi at the airport so quickly????

Benjo

I am surprised someone from Macquaire wasn't there fining the taxi driver - someone said taxis get fined for picking up people from the departures level and not the arrivals level.

I think bigger questions have to be asked about the owners of the airports - apparently the security changed a lot since they bought the place and it hasn't been for the better. They seem more focused on fining people for picking up passengers without parking than actual security.

[NickN]

I think bigger questions have to be asked about the owners of the airports - apparently the security changed a lot since they bought the place and it hasn't been for the better. They seem more focused on fining people for picking up passengers without parking than actual security.

We ARE talking about Macquarie here. Fines generate revenue, security doesn't.

[Sarah C]

Originally Posted by NickN

We ARE talking about Macquarie here. Fines generate revenue, security doesn't.

How stupid of me, how could I forget that?

[Bernie P]

Bikie brawl watched by security men
Andrew Clennell, Paul Bibby and Yuko Narushima
March 24, 2009
THE wild brawl between bikies at Sydney Airport in which a man was bludgeoned to death had started with pushing and shoving 15 minutes earlier in view of security officers, raising serious questions over the adequacy of airport security.

Yesterday the Federal Government ducked calls for an inquiry into security arrangements despite court evidence the fight began about 1.30pm on Sunday and ended when the Sydney man Anthony Zervas was bashed to death on the airport floor at 1.45pm.

It emerged yesterday security guards had helped move passengers away from an initial melee but the fight was able to develop until Mr Zervas, the brother of a Hells Angel, was dead.

Yesterday the Premier, Nathan Rees, announced an extra 75 police officers would be allocated to the gang squad, increasing its numbers to 125, in response to Mr Zervas's murder, the latest development in bikie violence in Sydney. The murder investigation would be called Strikeforce Raptor.

The investigation hit a snag yesterday when it was discovered that the quality of the CCTV footage from the terminal was poor. The Herald understands the footage is not clear enough to make an identification.

Mr Rees pledged to introduce legislation by the end of June that would mean certain motorcycle gangs would be "proscribed" - as occurs with terrorist organisations - with bikies able to be jailed for their membership.

"This is a new low in the activities of these criminal gangs," Mr Rees said. "Once, they kept these things between themselves. This has now overlapped into the public domain. That's why we're taking it so seriously; that's why we've moved very swiftly today."

The Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said: "If these people want to act like terrorists, we'll deal with them like they're terrorists."

It is understood the Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, opposes what he believes are the more draconian measures in the legislation, which is modelled on South Australian laws and which the Government first began discussing with police before Christmas.

But the Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, called for the legislation to be rushed into Parliament this week.

Mr Rees said there was no concern about security at Sydney Airport, saying Mr Zervas's death had been an "isolated incident".

But the federal Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, said the public had a "right to be alarmed" and called for an emergency meeting of legal and police chiefs to investigate aviation security and gang-related crime.

Twenty-two police officers were on duty at the airport on Sunday but witnesses suggested a lack of co-ordination between them and security guards.

Witnesses said a group of Comanchero gang members and a group of Hells Angels were verbally abusing each other from the moment they all stepped off Qantas flight 430 from Melbourne and that private security officers hired by the airline to look after baggage screening were aware something was going on.

This was backed by a police report tendered in court yesterday when four men appeared on affray charges.

One witness told the Herald: "There was an alertness among the security officers at the gate that this bunch of very big, aggressive blokes had just walked past. They were talking quite animatedly into their radios."

The Herald has learnt that the security officers - from SMP - are not able to contact their federal police counterparts directly but must radio their head office, which in turn notifies the police.

A triple-0 call was made from the airport at 1.43pm and records show NSW police attended at 1.47pm.

The federal Home Affairs Minister, Bob Debus, said there was no need for an inquiry into airport security because "we have to allow the [police] investigation to run its course without constant speculation about what occurred.

"No one can guarantee events like this will never occur. This was an event which happened very quickly and with no forewarning." He was backed by Mr Scipione, who said: "You can't have a police officer every three feet or one metre in a terminal."

The president of the Police Federation of Australia, Mark Burgess, said airports had been understaffed by 35 per cent since state and federal governments agreed to staff them jointly in September 2005.

"A state could find it very easy to say, 'We're not going to put extra police at our airport because it's not really our responsibility'," Mr Burgess said.

Source: SMH

Kind of disturbing really...