Border Control System affected by issue in linking with Interpol database - Immigration

The Department of Immigration and Emigration has denied that its automated border control system has been plagued by technical glitches. 

The Department clarified that the problem is with the network connection between National Central Board (NCB) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the CID branch office located at the Bandaranaike International Airport. The NCB is connected to the databases maintained by the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and Interpol. Prior to entering and leaving the country and before going through immigration clearance, details of all passengers are run through these databases to see if anyone is listed on them as a wanted individual. 

However, this network connection was lost temporarily on November 26, making it impossible to check passenger details with the Interpol database, preventing the Immigration Department's automated border control system from conducting clearance for inbound and outbound passengers. 

The Department notes that this is not the first time this system broke down and that it has done so on numerous occasions, resulting in Immigration authorities having to reach out to CID officers at the NCB to restore the system. On all these occasions, the disruption was only temporary and the system was restored within a short period, it added. 

The Immigration Department has now obtained net servers and installed the automated border control system in these servers, thus ensuring that the system can run without further disruption. The Department further stressed that the issues did not stem from its own system and reports claiming this was the case are false.