Airport gets facial recognition technology

System will be run on trial basis to screen suspected and wanted individuals

KARACHI:

Cameras installed at the Jinnah International Airport equipped with facial recognition technology have been made operational, with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to manage it jointly.

The surveillance system, equipped with Japanese technology, will help match criminals and suspects in its database using facial recognition. A control room has been set up to monitor passengers round the clock.

Initially, the system will be run on a trial basis to screen suspected and wanted individuals. It includes high resolution cameras in the lounges of Jinnah Internation Airport to monitor the passenger traffic.

In the first phase, the FIA data will be added to it, said FIA Additional Director Abdul Salam Sheikh. After that, the data obtained from the police will be entered in the system along with images.

According to FIA Immigration Deputy Director Ali Murad, where the pictures of every person entering the terminal building will be captured and saved in the monitoring room. The system is also capable of making blurred images recognisable by up to 60 per cent.

Murad said that image of the suspect or wanted person will be displayed in the monitoring room. “It will help in apprehending suspects and proclaimed offenders while reduce the turnaround time.”

He said that this technology would also ensure that people wanted here are unable to escape abroad.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2023.