THE US embassy in Nicosia yesterday sent an apology to the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) after a US Congressmen had a run-in with their security staff at Larnaca’s VIP terminal on Thursday.
The incident occurred after US Congressman Dan Burton and several accompanying staff arrived to board their private flight to Istanbul.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday the DCA staff at the airport insisted on searching the congressman before boarding. Burton refused, and a verbal altercation ensued.
“What happened was that the congressman went to the VIP terminal in embassy cars. No one was escorting them from the foreign ministry” Katsounotos said.
“They wanted to go through (to board the plane) without the checks and measures. The civil aviation had received no orders from the foreign ministry and followed standard procedure.”
According to the daily Philelefteros, Burton who had just met President Demetris Christofias set off the alarm as he passed through the security gate, prompting DCA staff to request a strip search.
Burton refused and a heated discussion followed, in which he reportedly shouted at the airport police, and at one point told them: “not to think about (a search)”.
The incident was resolved after intervention by a member of staff from the US embassy and after a discussion with DCA boss Androulla Christodoulou, who agreed to let them through without a physical search, at their own risk.
Inside one of the Congressman’s bags, said the daily, police found “A sharp instrument”.
Burton, who sits on the US Congress foreign affairs committee, and is chair of the subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, had been in Cyprus to meet Christofias.
The US embassy in Nicosia declined to comment on the matter yesterday, although Katsounotos said Christodoulou had received an apology from the embassy.
Burton has actively opposed over-zealous airport screening measures in his home country. For example, in November 2010 he co-signed a letter to the US department for Homeland Security requesting that they conduct an oversight hearing on the new airport screening procedures.
These controversial procedures, which according to Burton’s blog post at http://burton.house.gov/posts/if-you-go-by-plane have left travellers feeling angered as well as apprehensive about booking airline trips.
