Passenger data and border technology at Freetown International Airport

Who collects passenger data

Two different things happen at the border. The government, through the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, controls entry ^1,3. A contractor, Securiport (SL) Limited, supplies the technology that logs passengers ^1,3.

On 3 July 2026 the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a notice suspending the US$25 Airport Security Fee from Monday, 6 July 2026, as reported by Premier Media ¹. The Ministry said the suspension is not a termination of the operating contract ¹. Securiport continues its core technology operations, including logging standard inbound and outbound passenger traffic data, the notice said ¹. Diplomatic passport holders are excluded from this logging ¹.

Equipment at the airport

On 20 June 2026 the Audit Committee of the Sierra Leone Immigration Department inspected equipment at Freetown International Airport ³. The equipment was provided by Securiport, the Department said ³. It included enrolling cameras, scanners, monitors and electronic gate booths ³.

The committee found that all equipment was in good working order ³. It advised the airport team to make more space for visa sticker machines to cut waiting times ³. The Department's report did not say what data the cameras capture ³.

• Enrolling cameras ³
• Scanners ³
• Monitors ³
• Electronic gate booths ³

What the law says

The Civil Aviation Act 2023 is Act No. 27 of 2023, published in the Sierra Leone Gazette on 29 June 2023 ². Its index lists section 124, titled Advanced Passenger Information System and Passenger Name Record System ². The text of section 124 was not available in the copy reviewed for this page, so its rules are not described here.

The same Act makes the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority responsible for enforcing the National Civil Aviation Security Programme ².

How the fee was paid and why it was suspended

Until 31 August 2022 the government paid Securiport for its services ^4,5. The Sierra Leone Telegraph reported that the government had paid a contracted US$40 per passenger and said it could no longer afford it ⁴. From 1 September 2022 passengers paid US$25 directly to Securiport on arrival and on departure ^4,5.

Air Peace, an airline, told passengers the fee could be paid with Orange Money, Afrimoney or securipass.sl, or at Ecobank, UBA or Sierra Leone Commercial Bank ⁵. It said the fee funds border control technology and equipment ⁵.

The July 2026 notice gave three reasons for the suspension ¹. These were a review of the contract framework, completion of an independent special audit by Audit Service Sierra Leone, and a study of a more integrated fee collection system ¹. No audit report had been published in sources found for this page by 24 October 2026.

Claims made for the system

On 3 July 2026 the Civil Society Consortium on Internal Security urged the government to reverse the suspension, as reported by Premier Media ⁶. Its Executive Director, Hawa Koroma, said the system uses fingerprint and facial recognition, links checkpoints to international security databases and supports health screening and the online eVisa ⁶. These are the consortium's statements. They were not confirmed in a government document for this page. The same report described the Ministry notice as suspending Securiport's operations, which differs from the Ministry wording quoted by Premier Media on 6 July 2026 ^1,6.