The Japanese airport where Carlos Ghosn started his Hollywood-style escape reportedly had a security loophole that let him on a plane more easily than a large bottle of shampoo.
One of the people who plotted the ex-Nissan CEO’s trip from Tokyo to Lebanon discovered that oversize luggage didn’t fit in the X-ray scanners at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
That likely allowed Ghosn to slip onto a private jet to Istanbul stuffed inside a black audio gear box with holes drilled through the bottom so he could breathe, according to the paper.
Security staffers are reportedly supposed to open any luggage too big to be scanned. But bags belonging to private jet travelers may not get the same treatment because those people pose less of a terrorism risk, the Journal reported.
The latest revelations about Ghosn’s escape came as Japanese officials tightened immigration measures to prevent other fugitives from slipping through their fingers.
Japanese justice minister Masako Mori said Sunday that she directed immigration officials to strengthen departure procedures after Ghosn skipped bail while awaiting trial on financial-crime charges, which he has denied.
Officials are also considering whether to require suspects to wear electronic monitors while they’re out on bail as part of an ongoing review of Japan’s bail system, Mori told reporters Monday at the first government briefing since Ghosn surfaced in Beirut last week.
“We would like to swiftly advance the discussions on the matter, taking into account the recent escaping cases and the various opinions we have received,” Mori said, according to the New York Times.
While Ghosn reportedly didn’t have to wear a monitor, he was being closely watched by a security team and surveillance cameras at his home in Tokyo.
But private eyes hired by Nissan stopped tailing Ghosn on Dec. 29 — the same day he left his house and took a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
Ghosn then reportedly made his escape in two legs, flying from Osaka to Istanbul and then to Beirut. MNG Jet, the Turkish private plane company that discovered the black box that carried him, has brought a criminal complaint against a rogue employee whom it accused of falsifying documents for two planes that allegedly aided Ghosn’s escape.
Mori said Japanese officials could still push for Ghosn to be extradited even though the country doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.
“Departure in an unjust way without proper procedure is tantamount to smuggling, an illegal departure amounting to a crime,” Mori said.
With Post wires
