Marechaussee searches more telephones at Schiphol
The Marechaussee is increasingly investigating mobile phones at Schiphol. Last year, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee searched 2276 telephones, an increase of almost 40 percent compared to 2013. Telephones and SIM cards in particular are often viewed. Other data carriers, such as hard disks and video equipment, are examined much less often.
The website Freedom Inc requested the figures from the Ministry of Defense. A total of 2395 data carriers were searched last year. In 2008 there were still 1073.
The Marechaussee investigates the telephones of people suspected of a criminal offense at Schiphol. This may concern travelers, but also other persons who are at the airport. This mainly concerns research into child sex tourism, human smuggling and drug smuggling.
In addition to smartphones, hard drives (external or in computers) or other memory carriers such as memory cards or USB sticks are also sometimes examined. Photo and video equipment is also occasionally the target of research. In 2014, the KMar examined a total of 63 'memory carriers', a decrease of 35 percent. The number of hard drives examined also fell by almost 37 percent. However, the research into 'other digital components' increased from 4 to 16 pieces in 2014.
Marechaussees are only allowed to look at the data on the data carrier. They are not allowed to view information that is on the provider's site, such as e-mails or Facebook messages.
Source: Freedom Inc
You can count on that not without good reason, first of all, the Marechaussee is not very fond of working, but there is a lot of information that can be obtained from those things that the government can really use and don't come up with "witch hunts". because those men and women know very well what they are doing.
Just for the sake of completeness, before all kinds of things are called that are not correct;
The Marechaussee checks the outgoing passengers, possibly with the help of an external security company, dangerous objects on the flight and all other criminal offences, such as outstanding fines, false papers, and upon arrival of the flight, the passengers are checked for visas, fake passports and the like. but that happens before you enter the Netherlands, then you will only be in the hands of customs.
Customs checks the incoming passengers and falls under the tax authorities, with prohibited items such as weapons, the Marechaussee is called in, with the smuggling of cigarettes, they can act themselves, otherwise they have no authority at all
The answer is very simple:
No one cares who the mere mortal calls or emails. The reason for the special attention for mobile telephones is that they can be converted in a very simple way and used to detonate a bomb. You can of course also do this with a laptop, but you no longer just hide it in a small, but powerful enough bomb pack, capable of blowing an airplane out of the sky.
Let those security people do their job, it's only for the safety of the traveler.
Why do you think you sometimes have to take a laptop out of the bag and pass it through the scanner that way? They just want to make sure it's not connected to anything else. That's why they sometimes ask you to turn on the device to check whether it works as a laptop and has not been stripped of its internal electronics to make room for a few 100gr Semtex. In combination with a mobile phone you can cause a lot of mischief with it. Let the specialists do their job quietly and everyone benefits.
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