Smugglers and drug traffickers exploit weaknesses in airport security
Airports around the world stepped up security checks after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, but security lapses still happen.
Beijing Capital International Airport, for example, which has some of the toughest security checks in the world, has specific lanes for flights to Tibet and Xinjiang . There, luggage undergoes closer scrutiny, including the swiping of each bag for traces of explosives. But passengers then wait in a common departure lounge and face no further checks to verify their travel documents. Passengers could, in theory, swap boarding passes and board different planes.
The aviation security loophole received wider attention on Sunday when Interpol, the international police agency, said its computer systems detected that two passengers had used stolen passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. Few national authorities routinely checked the database, Interpol said.
And that's a worrisome trend, experts say.
Airports in Southeast Asia are not very strict with passport checks
"Using a stolen passport is a common tactic by organised crime for human and drug trafficking and a big problem in Western countries," says anti-terrorism expert Li Wei , from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
"The passport is modified with the user's picture and for customs it is still a valid passport. The tactic is used by smugglers or drug traffickers to cover their identity or traces as an former convict."