"Fear drove me to step into the security service business," says Karn Thongyai, managing director of Asia Security Management, one of the members of the Loxley-ICTS Consortium, which is in charge of security services at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Karn has worked in the security service business for seven years.

After completing his bachelor's degree in business administration at Bangkok University, Karn continued on to earn a master's degree in computer science in the United States. Returning to Thailand when he was 27, he began work as a salesman for the Loxley Group, and Karn moved out of his parents' house to live on his own.

As other youngsters do, he spent many hours at night entertainment venues and came home late. One night he entered his house to find it had been ransacked. Thieves had broken into the house and turned everything upside down in a search for valuables.

"The burglars broke in my house three times," he says. "The first time, I kept asking myself how this had happened. But I remained careless and they came back again and again."

After the third time, it occurred to him that someone should be offering to protect his home, and the homes of others like him.

Working for the Loxley Group and dealing with the Royal Thai Police, Karn realised the weakness of the police in dealing with these problems.

"I gathered data based on my experience and one day I proposed the idea of providing a security service for homeowners to my boss [Loxley Group president Dhongchai Lamsam] and he supported my proposal," he says.

Let Solutions was founded in 2000 to provide security services and a monitoring network for both corporate and individual clients. Karn became managing director of the company, the name of which is an acronym for law enforcement technology.

Let Solutions operates through a conventional closed-circuit television system with a high-speed telecommunications network.

All points of surveillance are linked to a security control room in the Loxley Building. If there are any unusual situations, the monitoring system records the offenders, an alarm system reacts immediately, and security control room staff can monitor the location and keep police informed.

It has proven to be a popular service with both corporate and household clients. However, its cost means that most of its clients are companies such as banks, logistics firms, hotels and retailers.

"Most of our residential customers are the people who have experienced a burglary. Bad experiences make them decide to pay for our service out of concern for their lives and their assets" Karn says.

He believes that the residential security service has room to grow in the near future, due to events such as the New Year's Eve bombings in Bangkok. "Not that I want Bangkok to be a dangerous city [for the sake of the business], but I believe the security business will grow because of residents' concerns."

His experience in Let Solutions earned Karn a new job, as managing director of Asia Security Management, one of the parties involved in the Loxley-ICTS Consortium which has been granted exclusive rights to provide security services at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Unlike the positive results at Let Solutions, Karn acknowledges that the consortium has received negative publicity over its airport security so far. However, he is confident that the experienced consortium will prove its ability to improve its service standards and provide proper security for all airport users.

Due to bad publicity, Airports of Thailand (AOT), which operates Suvarnabhumi Airport, recently threatened to terminate the Loxley-ICTS Consortium's service contract if it fails to raise the standard of its security service to equal that at airports in the US and Europe.

Karn says the consortium started out with a problem - a lack of security personnel - because Suvarnabhumi Airport was rushed to its official opening in September last year. However, the consortium has recruited more people and, since last month, it has had all the personnel it needs.

"Loxley-ICTS has experience, technology and experts from our partner, ICTS Europe," he says. "Even Loxley made mistakes in the beginning. But now, we're ready, and we will do our best. I believe that if AOT gives us a chance, Loxley-ICTS will be useful for the airport."

Recently, the consortium handed a letter to AOT's acting president Kulya Pakakrong, asking for a meeting with airport executives.

Karn says he is ready to hear all suggestions from AOT about how the security team can improve its work at the airport.

"We should not talk about the security issue via the media, because security issues are very sensitive," he says. "My duty is to make Suvarnabhumi Airport safe. As a Bangkokian, I wish the entire city to be a safe place."