Home Affairs and the Border Management Authority unveiled
new technology to beef up border security on Thursday.
”For
the first time ever, we will see you in the daytime, in the nighttime [and] we
will see you hiding behind a tree. We will see you trying to get through a
fence and we will catch you,” said Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber.
The new technology includes drones equipped with thermal
vision detection.
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Scheiber says these will be the eyes in the sky for the BMA.
”Your
own body heat is going to give you away. There is nowhere to hide, there is
nowhere to run, and it will see you moving and trying to enter this country
illegally.
“It [drone] has long range zoom that can see up to 1.24
miles [ 1.996 Kilometres] into the distance, and of course it has a very
advanced camera. This is very important for those who engage in criminality at
the border environment because they think we can’t see [them].”
The
Minister says the technology will help in ways that would not have been
possible even if the BMA had more human resource capacity.
“We all know that the BMA is short of officials. It is still
short in many other regards, but we are going to leapfrog and close the gap now
with this technology.
“The second thing I want to highlight for you is the use of the body cameras.
There are 40 of these body cameras that have been procured now, and they too
are going to be an invaluable resource.”
Officials say the devices will start being used over the
Easter period.
There are also plans to bring in speedboats to combat
illegal migration.
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