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An Ethiopian born in UAE citizen faced a situation last night at Bole airport. For instance, this individual made it to the airport two hours before her 5pm flight to the United States. Security officers reportedly searched her bags by opening them and told her to disclose what they contain.
Amongst these searches were scrutinized personal jewelry as well as legally carried dollars. She said that those pieces of jewelry have sentimental value since they were given by her family members and husband over time. Although she was within the permissible limit of $10,000 for non-citizens, things got out of hand when she apologized and wanted to check in the luggage later.
She was taken into another room where she says she was mistreated by airport staffs. As per her account, she had been forced to show what was inside the bag with workers who made derogatory statements and demanded valuable belongings from her. However, despite cooperating with them fully, she states that they did not allow her to use any telephone facility as well as letting her go through past.
First, The journalist Elias Meseret made two important points
about this occurrence; one is that it is a continuation of previous airport robbery reports where security and inspection agents have been involved. Especially those going to Arab nations are badly affected by the situation as hinted earlier. Second, it was emphasized that airport security falls under government agencies, not the airline, indicating that there should be no correlation between Ethiopian Airlines and this kind of behavior.
Moreover, Mr. Nebiyu Sirak also raised another matter
that shows the continuing aggression against passengers at airports. This is after recent revelations among others like when some travelers particularly new ones on international trip were allegedly forced to part with large chunks of money as bribes. There have been serious concerns about reports of physical/sexual harassment, misleading messages during check-in/check-out processes among others.
The article ends with a plea from a mother whose son was treated badly by immigration officers despite having proper papers. The writer expressed thanks to intervening officials and called for an end to infringements on their citizens’ rights.
To conclude his article author Nebiyu Sirak appeals to immigration and security officers to investigate these alleged illicit activities pointing out how such practices could ruin the reputation of all other honest servants in these institutions.
Dear Nebiyu Sirak, my fellow journalist,
You have stated an important fact today by expounding on the Ethiopian Airlines employee scandal of fraudulent dealings with customers. I am spreading this news because it is something that affected my cousin.
Robbery cases in Ethiopian Airlines are not limited to our country alone but rather they happen internationally. They force passengers to pay extra money for changing flights and there are claims that during inspections TSA officers have connections with baggage handlers as well as external partners who are able to receive and share information outside company’s rules.
Ethiopian-airlines
Shockingly, women employees at Immigration, Citizenship, and Security Ministry compound sexually assault women; some threaten to withhold passports. Regrettably, when trying to report them such incidents especially people being sexually harassed while transacting passport issues were futilely done.
An employee last week reported a case whereby one of the staff members both sexually assaulted her and tempered with the barcode on her receipt.
He forwarded her to the next window with a wrong receipt when she refused his advances, making the passport process more complicated for her. Despite all efforts she made to correct it, the said department on its part continued on to abuse their powers even more leading to worst things beyond her imagination.
These disclosures reveal an endemic structural issue that goes beyond Ethiopian Airlines into several government departments. It is important that these matters are exposed in order to promote responsibility and ensure that citizens are safe and respected
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