THE Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) officials are facing charges of conniving to switch off the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to allow for the undetected passage of the 6kg Henrietta Rushwaya Dubai-bound gold last week, Zim Morning Post can reveal.
A CCTV is a high security 24-hour video surveillance system.
At Henrietta Rushwaya’s arrest last week (October 26), Zim Morning Post heard that Rushwaya and colleagues had connived with some staff at CAAZ to momentarily tamper with operations of the CCTV system.
Allegations are that the four to five minutes CCTV stoppage time was meant to facilitate the undetected passage into the freeway of the Rushwaya contraband.
But is it possible in modern times to breach and stifle CCTV cameras installed specifically for high-risk compounds such as airports and get away with it?
CCTV temper detection experts say that could only be achieved in Fantasyland.
In the first place, tamper detection is a setting within one’s IP camera that sends an alert when the camera is tampered with.
According to CCTV experts, once an action has been detected, whether it is of someone trying to knock the camera down or block its view, the system alerts the persons on the controls so that spontaneous action is taken against the suspects.
“Modern CCTV have an IP (Internet Protocol) camera,” said a CCTV and aviation expert who did no want to be named for security reasons.
“Wait until the Henrietta Rushwaya issue begins to pun out.
“A CCTV with an IP camera, such as those found in all modern airports around the globe, do no need manual network.
“These have a digital video camera.
“The cameras receive control data and send image data via an IP network,” said the Zim Morning Post source.
This publication understands that if all the circumstances surrounding the mystery of the 6kg Rushwaya gold are investigated, then very few chefs at CAAZ would survive.
“There are so many shady deals that have happened in the aviation industry, and in particular at the country’s ports of entry,” added the Zim Morning Post source.
“In fact, at airports is where most clandestine activities happen.”
