Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
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would be a target, so how could this be happening?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ortal.htmlsecureRefresh=true&_requestid=81994
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ortal.htmlsecureRefresh=true&_requestid=81994
Ten days before the Olympic Games start in Athens, passes allowing vehicles into several venues, including the Olympic village, have been stolen.
A security source told the Telegraph that the passes were taken from the windscreens of unattended official vehicles.
Police are checking passports to enhance security
"Some people left the doors of their cars unlocked and the thieves just came in and took the accreditations," he said.
But the theft of the passes raises fears that terrorists driving car or lorry bombs could still get through.
According to sources in Athoc, the games have been hit by another security failure, after plans to check the backgrounds of staff, contractors and volunteers were dropped as organisers ran out of time.
The problems began in mid-May, when organisers began recruiting 7,000 workers to undertake jobs from general receptionists to housekeepers at the Olympic village.
But with so many people to process in only three months, the planned background checks were scrapped.
"Background checks require 20 days for each employee," a source said. "But Athoc was trying to hire so many people that the checks have not been done.
"In many cases the pressure to recruit staff meant that extremely poorly qualified people were hired, but we don't know the backgrounds of many others."
Now thousands of staff and contractors with unverified histories are moving freely around supposedly secure venues because formal accreditation passes, bearing photos of the holder, have still not been issued.
Instead, Athoc is relying on so-called "bump-in" passes, which are handwritten and issued without photographs or background checks.