COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
Country of Origin Information Service
UK Border Agency
5 January 2012
Dear Colleague,
Re: Exit and Entry Procedures at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo
The British High Commission in Colombo routinely monitors the departure and arrival
procedures at Colombo‘s Bandaranaike International Airport in respect of not just enforced or
voluntary returnees, but all of the travelling public. This letter compliments the report of the FCO
information gathering visit to Colombo – August 2009 and replaces any previous letters issued
by the British High Commission in Colombo regarding this subject.
Exit Procedures
For departing passengers, staff and visitors to the airport there is a permanent checkpoint
manned by the Sri Lankan Air Force, positioned on the airport road leading to the terminal
buildings. Lanes are divided between Staff / Cars & Vans / Vans & Buses / Tourist buses /
Taxis. Air Force personnel manning the checkpoint approach each vehicle and ascertain if the
occupants are passengers, staff or visitors. Pedestrians are also checked. Departing
passengers often have to produce confirmation of ticketing and/or a passport. Staff must
produce their airport ID card. Sri Lankan visitors to the airport, including drivers, often have to
produce their national ID card. The registration numbers of all vehicles are written manually into
a register. During heightened security situations e.g. conferences, state visits etc., the number
of checkpoints may increase along roads leading to the airport, especially along the main A3
from Colombo. The police or the military can man these.
The airport is split into two main terminal buildings; departure and arrivals. The departure area
is restricted to departing passengers, staff, and visitors holding a ‗day pass‘ issued from an
adjacent ticket booth. Persons obtaining a ‗day pass‘ have to produce a copy of their ID card or
passport or driving licence, plus present the original document. Their details are recorded
manually in a register. Before entering the departure terminal a security guard requires
evidence of airline ticketing (and sometimes passports), staff ID cards or a day pass. Persons
not holding these documents are not allowed into to the departure terminal. Immediately behind
the security guard there are security checks where all bags and belongings are passed through
scanners. All persons then pass through a scanner. Regardless of whether or not the detector
alarm is activated, persons are then frisked by a security guard. Both male and female security
staff are stationed at each checkpoint. Having passed through these security checks, persons
walk through a long corridor and into the main departure area.
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.
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