US investigates how pilots’ names got on ‘no fly list’

THE US State Department is very concerned about how the names of two BWIA pilots got on the “no fly list” and is currently carrying out investigations to determine how they did. This was confirmed by Eugene Sweeney, the Chief Consul General at the US Embassy in charge of Immigration.

He disclosed this to Newsday yesterday at the USIS, Marli Street, following a press conference to clarify issues pertaining to the new security arrangements implemented at all US ports of entry as of January 5. Sweeney said there are no assurances that names of persons visiting the US would not appear on the “no fly list,” but 99.9 percent of persons with valid US visas will be admitted into the country. He said there was no way the general public could access the “no fly list” which contains names of persons with suspected terrorist links. He said the list is very controlled and “some names on the list perhaps shouldn’t be there, but only after persons are questioned can government determine whether the person should be sent back home or admitted.”

Sweeney told Newsday there were no assurances that persons’ names would not appear on the list, since the Embassy here did not have “all the information about the names on the list.” He explained that sometimes people with the same names and date of birth appear on the list and while it may be sorted out quickly, other times it cannot. He noted it was very rare that such an incident may occur. Asked about the matter involving the two BWIA pilots, Anthony Wight and Rawle Joseph, who were detained last month for several days because their names appeared on a “no fly list,” Sweeney said he couldn’t say much about the matter, since the State Department was conducting an “investigation to ascertain how their names got on the list.” “They are trying to clear up the situation because we did receive a letter from the TT Embassy in Washington and the Secretary of State is very concerned and is following up on that, so I can’t say more.”