• DANIEL J. OLLERO

    Madrid

  • GRAPHIC REPORT: ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

    Madrid

Updated Friday,9June2023-23:47

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Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport is one of the most complex borders of the European Union. A small city composed of a labyrinth of terminals, rails, hangars, laboratories, dungeons, warehouses and endless facilities that the new delegate of the Government in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín (PSOE), travels accompanied by GRAN MADRID.

"Barajas nerve center of air cargo reception of the country" where, last year, moved "more than 566 million kilograms in goods" and through which passed "more than 240 million travelers," says Martin trying to put in context a route in which to move from one point to another it is necessary to go along the tracks in a car, whose drivers must obtain a special driver's license to be able to circulate next to the planes.

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Here they put many fines, "says a veteran agent of the Benemérita. "We do speed, alcohol and drug checks on those who circulate here," he explains.

Although these speed controls exist, the combination of speed when moving people and goods and security, synthesize Interior sources, are key to the success of Barajas. All a lace of bobbins "so that the Airport is competitive for the transport of people and goods without sacrificing an iota to security". Something that is possible thanks to the work of more than 4,000 public officials.

Cars of the National Police at the foot of the track.

A security that, beyond the uniformed, begins with the work of Foreign Health, controlling and sounding the alarm about international health emergencies or the administration of vaccines, a work that the delegate thanked them effusively thanks to their work during the pandemic.

As far as the sanitary processing of biological sample files is concerned, during 2022 a control of 3704 samples was processed and, in the first three months of 2023, 970. In addition, Barajas is also responsible for the repatriation of corpses when a foreign citizen dies in our country. In this sense, the Mortuary Health Police carried out a total of 1244 international transfers of corpses between 2022 and March 2023.

The inspections also extend to all those products of animal and vegetable origin for human consumption, to verify that they have all sanitary guarantees, as well as to the import and export of live plants and animals, which are carried out by the veterinary control, animal health and plant health services. To do this, it is necessary to move to another warehouse in which it is mandatory to carry PPE.

Officials review a shipment of lobsters in the presence of the government delegate.

There, the technicians dependent on the Government Delegation show in refrigerated chambers the controls with a shipment of Pitahayas -also known as Dragon fruits in Southeast Asia-, fruits the size of a Gauli melon whose price in supermarkets is around 5 or 6 euros per kilo. They also do it with lobsters that have been caught less than 48 hours ago on the coast of New York and sent to Barajas. A non-native species different in coloration and shape to the Galician lobster that health professionals carefully inspect while the specimens are alive.

From January to March of this year they carried out 8323 controls, equivalent to 17,951,962 net kilos of merchandise such as fruits, meat or dairy products. In 2022, these figures were 29,039 files for a net weight of more than 55 million kilos.

Next to these facilities are those of Animal Health, point of entry of pets and where controls are carried out on live animals in addition to the export of products of animal origin intended for human consumption. There two poodles wait in a room, whose owner does not meet the requirements for entry into Spain and must be deported, and a cat that awaits its future in limbo.

Then, the Government delegate travels to the premises of the Civil Guard in T4, whose agents accompany him to the on-site inspection of an aircraft. After a risk analysis of the Benemérita, it has been decided to carry out a thorough control of the aircraft and its goods. A tedax accompanied by a German shepherd and Czech shepherd cross artificer dog searches the seats, cabin and hold of the aircraft. He doesn't find anything unusual.

At the foot of the runway, the agents scrutinize the suitcases of the passage in search of prohibited objects such as explosives, weapons or drugs from a mobile scanner mounted on a van. Its operator explains that the densities of the interior, color-coded in the image of the screen, and the shape of the objects provide clues about the content of the same.

The next stop consists of the premises of the Civil Guard. In addition to a checkpoint of Special Operations agents in case immediate intervention is required, the Corps has in its dependencies a lactation room for the agents who have recently become mothers, as well as members of the Scientific Police and some cells equipped with security cameras in the cells.

Through a network of corridors, unrelated to passengers, you can access the entry and exit controls of the Airport. The terrorist alert level is 4 out of 5 and hand baggage control is observed from height by a shooter with a G36 assault rifle.

A shooter with a G36 rifle guarding access to the terminals from the outside.

At the exit control, the Civil Guard agents, in close collaboration with Customs agents, carry out the last inspections of the luggage. In addition to drugs, money and contraband, the Benemérita intercepts a huge amount of animal products. "The weirdest thing we've found? Pangolin stew, gorilla meat or monkey dishes," they say. Next, they show two huge chests of industrial use that give off a nauseating smell whose confiscated food goes straight to its destruction.

The National Police takes over during the visit and receives Martin at the Airport Police Station. They are entrusted with the procedures related to the entry and exit of foreigners from Spain, as well as the control of the border post located in the satellite Terminal 4. The police also have their own intelligence units there. Thanks to the information provided by the airlines, their own databases and the collaboration of agencies from friendly countries, they are able to identify passengers of interest.

"Thanks to Discovery Max and National Geographic's drug trafficking programs, some of the agents stationed at the points of entry have become famous. The one who has gone out the most times tourists even ask for selfies and is a little fed up, "jokes a sub-inspector.

An agent shows a forged visa to the government delegate.

At the border, agents have an advanced system to check facial features in order to ensure that whoever enters with a passport is really its rightful owner. In case of doubt, there is a laboratory equipped with high technology and magnifying glasses with large magnifications where the agent in charge of collating the documentation makes a practical class to the Government Delegate. Under Martin's watchful eye, he shows a wide range of false documentation.

Forged passports seized in Barajas.

Elements such as the presence of scratches on the backgrounds, signs of overprints, photographs not integrated with the rest of the elements in the passports or the use of qualities other than paper betray the forgeries. However, the most spectacular example shows him using two Belgian identity cards. Apparently they are the same. However, a minimum detail in the cut of the photograph and the difference in sound when dropping it on the table front which is the true document.

In addition, the National Police has in its custody people who, for not meeting their requirements for entry into the country, are pending deportation – "they return in charge of the airline on the first flight of the airline that brought them," says an agent. They are separated from asylum seekers, who wait in the hope of being able to enter Spain.

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