The PSP will border and customs control at Madeira International Airport with new specialised agents, as part of the national distribution of 367 police officers who have recently completed border control training.
The new staff will start a two-week operational training on Monday, and in addition to the 170 agents placed at Lisbon airport, the rest will be distributed across the airports of Porto, Faro, Madeira, and the Azores.
The entry of these agents comes at a time when the reinforcement mission ensured by the GNR at Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, ends. According to the PSP, the operation, which began in January this year, made it possible to increase border control response capacity while expansion works were underway and new border guards were trained.
The Minister of Home Affairs, LuĂs Neves, considers that the reinforcement now made available will make passenger control at national airports more agile, although he admits the possibility that there will continue to be occasional constraints, namely due to computer failures or difficulties in accessing national and international databases.
The minister also stressed that the growth in air traffic continues to put pressure on airport infrastructure, revealing that Portugal currently receives 20,000 more passengers per day than in the same period last year.
The PSP also highlighted the collaboration provided by the GNR during the last few months, considering that the joint mission contributed to strengthening the operational capacity of border control security forces.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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