Originally Posted by
confused_wombat
Flying recently DPS-SIN-BNE, on arrival into Singapore we were escorted to a security checkpoint set up in one of the piers. Had to clear this checkpoint before being allowed to proceed through the terminal.
I've seen these checkpoints at SIN before, but never really thought about them until I had to go through one. What are they for? SIN does security screening as you enter the gate holding room, so disembarking passengers enter the airport in a non-sterile area. Why the need to scan people from certain flights?
I know DPS used to be on a list of airports not meeting certain security standards, but (i) thought they'd fixed that, and (ii) can't figure out what they're looking for *after* the flight.
Drugs mostly when they do an on-arrival check. Sometimes it's to net people on invalid or inappropriate travel documents or some concern about terrorism.
At SIN the standard is usually to just do an on-departure boarding gate-area security check -- so ordinarily there is no security check until you go to make an onward connection and reach your departure gate. As noted in the prior response, however, sometimes it's just chewing gum.