COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
details page appear on the computer screen in normal light, ultra-violet and infrared, in
order to identify if the document has been forged or tampered with in any way. Non Sri
Lankans will be checked against any existing database records and officers will check
arrival endorsements in the passport. Passports belonging to all passengers i.e. Sri
Lankan and foreign nationals, are endorsed with an immigration officer‘s embarkation
stamp. Once through the immigration control, passengers proceed to the main
departure lounge.‖
25.21 BHC letter of 5 January 2012 511 went on to report that:
―The Department of Immigration & Emigration (DIE) are notified only when a Court
decides to impound the suspect‘s passport or an arrest warrant is issued. The details of
such persons would be placed on their alert or wanted list within their database. There
is no other mechanism to ensure that the Immigration Officers are aware of such
instances. Apart from these Court powers, Immigration Officers have no power in law to
prevent persons embarking. The other method, which is rare and case specific, is that
the State Intelligence Service (SIS) can inform Immigration Officers of individuals
suspected of terrorist activity and those on a wanted list. Again the details of suspects
would be put on the DIE database. Without Court sanction, Immigration officers are
powerless to put an individual in detention if they are otherwise satisfied that they have
a right to enter or live in Sri Lanka. The State Intelligence Service (SIS) has an office
adjacent to the immigration embarkation control and DIE officials can refer embarking
passengers to them if they think it necessary.
―Further security checks are conducted when passengers arrive at the boarding gate.
Hand baggage and belongings, including mobile phones and shoes, are passed
through a scanner. Passengers proceed through a scanner and are frisked depending
on whether the alarm is activated. There is then a further boarding card check
conducted by airline staff prior to entering the holding lounge. On many flights with
European destinations, plus some with onward connections to Europe, North America
and Australia, Airline Liaison Officers from several overseas missions and/or trained
airline document checkers make further checks on passenger‘s passports to check their
admissibility in their transit and /or destination countries.‖
Entry procedures
25.22 A letter from the British High Commission (BHC), Colombo, dated 5 January 2012, 512
reported on the entry procedures at the Colombo Bandaranaike Airport.
―Arriving passengers should be provided with a Department of Immigration & Emigration
arrival card by the carrying airline. Depending on which stand the aircraft has arrived at,
arriving passengers will either walk from the gate on the main pier, or be deposited by
bus from outlying stands at the entrance to the immigration arrivals hall. Those
passengers transferring to an onward flight will approach the transfer desk. Current
figures indicate that between 45-50% of all passengers using Colombo Airport are
transit passengers. They generally remain in the transit/departure areas until their
onward flight departs, although those requiring overnight accommodation would have to
seek entry to Sri Lanka at the immigration control.
511 British High Commission Colombo, letter dated 5 January 2012
512 British High Commission Colombo, letter dated 5 January 2012
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
197