Passenger carries rifle on plane
NZPA | Sunday, 18 March 2007
Security measures on provincial airline routes are under the spotlight again after a passenger managed to carry a rifle on board a flight from New Plymouth and Auckland. (Emphasis Original)
The man was only pulled aside after he landed in Auckland and was boarding another flight to Kerikeri.
He told authorities he had been allowed to carry the rifle on the earlier flight because the gun was broken.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer told the Herald on Sunday New Plymouth airline officers had ignored protocol and all guns were required to go in the cargo hold. There are no formal screening procedures for flights in provincial New Zealand.
The latest scare comes after a Sikh priest was asked to hand over his religious dagger by a pilot after he boarded a plane from Auckland to Napier in January.
Jarnail Singh said the issue only served to highlight the racism his community faced in the post-September 11 world.
Jarnail Singh and a group of Sikh priests visiting from India got through security wearing their kirpans under their shirts at Auckland's domestic terminal without any problems and boarded their flight to Napier.
