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Matthew Vella
Uncertainty surrounds the nature of data exchange from the controversial PISCES database, a USD1.5 million (Lm700,000) United States gift to Malta’s immigration authorities which stores information relating to people coming in and out the country.
The refusal by Austrian authorities to disallow the disembarkation of two Syrian nationals on an Air Malta flight on October 7, has now fuelled suspicions as to whether the Maltese government has been exchanging information on passengers and their itineraries with other countries.
No answers have so far been received by MaltaToday from the Home Affairs Ministry on whether a transfer of information occurred between Malta’s immigration officials and Austrian officials, after immigration authorities at Vienna International Airport (VIA) refused the disembarkation of two Syrian nationals travelling from Malta on flight KM513.
It also remains unanswered as to how the Austrian authorities were informed of their arrival since no Passenger Name Record data (PNR) was exchanged between the airline and VIA.
The two Syrians were stopped by Austrian authorities from disembarking the flight on October 7, but they were handed over to the authorities after the captain refused to carry them back to Malta unless accompanied by security officers. The two Syrians were returned back to Malta the day after on an Air Malta flight.
The Syrians, who commenced their travel in Damascus, flying to Cairo and on to Malta, were flying to Vienna and had an onward connection to Armenia. The passengers were regularly and properly documented throughout their whole journey. On arrival at Vienna, the two Syrians were asked by Austrian immigration officials to remain on board.
MaltaToday is informed that the VIA immigration officials refused to have the two Syrians disembark and enter Austria on the grounds that these were potential illegal immigrants.
VIA sources said the route taken by the Syrians, travelling from Damascus to Cairo, Malta and Vienna, and then planning to go on to Armenia, was a “typical” route for migrants to enter Austria, who then destroy any other documents or tickets indicating that they would be going on to Armenia.
This newspaper was told that arrivals from Malta were paid special attention for possible illegal migrants and that the Cairo-Malta itinerary was a “well-known route” for illegal migration. However, the two Syrians were travelling legally and had been fully documented all throughout their itinerary.
VIA sources did not however exclude there was an exchange of information, possibly PNR data, between the airport and Malta.
Air Malta has denied having supplied Vienna Airport any PNR data or a manifest of passengers before KM513 landed. The passengers, Air Malta said, were accepted by the airline because they were in possession of full and proper documentation which had been verified.
“Any questions as to why the Austrian authorities did not allow them to disembark the aircraft can only be addressed by the Austrian authorities themselves… The immigration authorities in any country have the discretion to accept or refuse passengers into their country even those properly documented.”
Questions to the Home Affairs Ministry on whether information was exchanged between Malta and VIA have remained unanswered. The transfer of PNR data constitutes an illegal practice and goes contrary to EU Data Protection Directive.
Secret PISCES
The Personal Identification Security Comparison Evaluation Software (PISCES), which was designed by Virginia-based software company BoozAllenHamilton for the Central Intelligence Agency, has attracted criticism from civil rights groups in the countries in which it has been installed.
It forms part of the US Department of State’s Terrorist Interdiction Programme, and is designed to monitor and restrict the movement of terrorists and other criminals by making real-time comparisons of photographs and other personal details with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) database, and analyse traveller information to identify and intercept terrorist suspects.
The Home Affairs Ministry has denied that PISCES is linked to the FBI, unlike other countries such as Pakistan, but the role of PISCES and the exchange of its stored information between Malta and other countries is however still fraught with great secrecy. Malta is at present the only EU country to host the PISCES software at all its transit points, namely Malta International Airport, the Sea Passenger Terminal, Ta’ Xbiex Marina and the Gozo ferry terminal.
Ironically, although PISCES was operational in the months prior to September 11, it apparently failed to detect any of the terrorists involved in the attack, according to a report by Wayne Madsen, senior fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, in Washington DC.
Internet research on PISCES has also proved to be lean. Major privacy rights groups have little, if no form of information on the software.
According to a US Congress report seen by MaltaToday on Pakistan-US Anti-Terrorism Co-operation, PISCES can make “real-time comparisons of photographs and other personal details with the FBI database in order to track the movements of Islamic militants”, as well as containing data on worldwide bomb explosions.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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