An airport employee who was suspended for soliciting unwarranted ‘fines’ from a group of schoolgirls, who, he claimed, were not carrying the correct documentation according to South Africa’s new immigration regulations, was not a Home Affairs immigration official but a staff member of the aviation security company, Checkport.

Asata recently released a statement saying an airport official had been suspended following an incident with a group of 16-year-old girls travelling on a student exchange, who were forced to accompany the airport person to an ‘interview’ room, where he claimed they did not have the correct paperwork to travel and demanded a R500 ‘fine’ be paid before they were allowed to fly. This is despite their documents having been vetted previously by their travel agent and accepted by the airline staff upon check-in as valid.

Tourism Update’s sister publication TNW has now confirmed that it was not an airport official but a Checkport employee who was suspended and has now been dismissed. Read the full story on here.