There is a project to take the fingerprints of expatriates as they enter the country instead of the current system of waiting for a few days to take these at the various government service centres, a senior official has said.
Brigadier Nasser Abdullah al-Mahmoud, director of Criminal Evidence and Information Department (CEID) at the Ministry of Interior (MoI), told local Arabic daily Arrayah that he expects the trial phases of the project to start within four months.
“The apparatuses to scan fingerprints will be soon installed at Hamad International Airport (HIA) and all the other entry and exit points of the country,” he explained.
The official said that the new machines would be an important security feature to make sure of the identity of the persons entering the country, and ban the entry of “wanted” people, internationally and locally, in addition to those who have court sentences against them even if they had changed their passports or data.
The new fingerprint machines to be installed are the most sophisticated in the world and connected to the department data base, which includes around 5mn fingerprints.
According to the new system, expatriates will have to make their fingerprint registration even before the medical commission checkups, within five days of their arrival into the country.
Besides, the security patrols will have a handheld apparatus, in the size of a smartphone, to check the fingerprints of persons and immediately identify them without the need to take them to any security department.
The new initiative has been prompted by the fact that Qatar has become a hot destination for many important events and activities attended by a large number of people from across the world.