Security in and around Patuxent Naval Air Station was put on heightened alert this week after officials received a report of a tractor-trailer driver trying to gain illegal access to the base.
Base officials reportedly sent out a mass email to all personnel who work on base, detailing the situation and resulting increased security.
On Monday, a 65-year-old woman of Hispanic descent reported that her son, a 45-year-old construction worker, was approached by a man who appeared Middle Eastern, in the parking lot of the Shell gas station across from San Souci plaza. The man was driving a tractor-trailer with a dark blue cab and supposedly offered the construction worker $200 if he would be willing to drive the tractor-trailer onto the Air Station. The trucker said he is not a citizen and can not get on base.
The construction worker says he refused and told his mother about the proposal.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) assumed the investigation and interviewed the construction worker and his mother more than once.
On Monday night into Tuesday, local Maryland State Police Troopers and St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s deputies were actively searching for the trailer, and additional police cruisers were stationed near Base gates.
Since the reporting, base security has heightened screening measures at entry points and taken other steps, including increased inspection of trucks and trailers.
Neither local police nor military officials have released any information to the local media on the issue.
The Bay Net welcomes any additional information on the incident, and will see that any useful information received is channeled to the proper authorities.