Boston- In response to a terror plot recently discovered in England, troops from the Massachusetts National Guard and the Air Force were called to Logan International Airport yesterday. Their mission is to tighten security at checkpoints and perform additional passenger and baggage searches, ensuring the safety of all travelers and visitors coming through Boston. Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral was present at an operations briefing last night at the Massport Fire and Rescue Headquarters to deputize forty National Guard soldiers, the first to arrive in Boston after Governor Mitt Romney called troops to the airport and deputized a further one hundred soldiers and Air Force airmen at Camp Curtis Guild National Guard Reservation this afternoon.

As High Sheriff of Suffolk County, Sheriff Cabral has the authority to deputize officers and soldiers outside the Sheriff’s Department, so they may perform law enforcement duties within Suffolk County. While Sheriff Cabral has deputized officers at area colleges and universities on a number of occasions, this is the first time the Governor has requested that Sheriff Cabral swear in soldiers and airmen since she took office in 2002. As deputy sheriffs, the National Guard and Air Force personnel deployed to Logan Airport now have jurisdiction in Suffolk County to assist Massachusetts State Police in enforcing the law.

“We provide law enforcement assistance and support whenever we can. These are well-trained men and women whose presence will enhance safety and maintain order at the airport,” said Cabral.

According to Major Anthony Sciaraffa of the National Guard, the operation at Logan Airport could require as many as two hundred soldiers and airmen, whom Sheriff Cabral would deputize. The National Guard and Air Force were last called to Logan after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

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