Gibraltar-Spain border shuts after suspicious package spotted
Traffic at the border crossing between Gibraltar and Spain was halted for around an hour on Monday evening after a suspicious package was discovered at Gibraltar Airport.
The Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) force said that its bomb disposal unit had carried out two controlled explosions to neutralise any possible threat from the suspicious object, but as of Monday night there was no official confirmation whether it had in fact contained explosives.
At just after 6.30pm local time, the RGP announced that the border had been closed due to the discovery of the package at the airport, which is situated very close to the frontier with Spain.
Kingsway Tunnel, which opened last year to take traffic to and from the airport, was also closed as a precaution, as was the pedestrian crossing of the runway.
The closures led to a build-up of traffic along Gibraltar’s exit roads heading towards the border.
An hour after the initial warning message, RGP posted a message on social media to say that the roads and runway had been reopened after “two controlled explosions on [the] suspect package by bomb disposal”.
Talks on frictionless movement
Every day, around 10,000 Spanish residents enter the British territory to work, while many Gibraltarians have properties over the border or travel into Spain to shop or for leisure purposes.
The status of the border between Spain and Gibraltar is the object of ongoing post-Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the UK in a bid to maintain frictionless movement of people and goods.
With no treaty yet agreed, November is set to see the introduction of new EU border rules that will mean Gibraltarians who are non-EU citizens will have to provide fingerprints, share their passport details and take a picture even for short stays in Spain.
Spain is installing e-gates and automated systems to process biometric data and Gibraltar has said it will respond in kind, something the Rock admits will have a “significant effect” on border traffic.
