UK emergency committee to discuss air cargo security
committee Cobra, as calls grow for a full review of airport security.
a bomb was found on a US-bound cargo plane at East Midlands airport.
exacting than those on passengers.
at introducing the explosive detection systems that we currently use for passengers’
baggage which goes into the hold.
for packages coming from areas where there is a known risk.”
the terror alert on Friday.
the flight from Yemen, before carrying out a re-examination as a precaution.
Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
of existing equipment to initially identify PETN was a “weakness” and checks should
be made to ensure the most up-to-date technology was in use.
to send bombs through the parcel system which now operates on a very large scale
worldwide.
and the use of explosive sniffing dogs which can be very useful to ensure that
no stream of exit or entry involving the United Kingdom is unprotected.”
years about “open-door” cargo flights.
“redundant security measures” aimed at passengers, towards checking freight instead.
with years of flying experience, rather than targeting resources at the vulnerabilities
that we have seen exploited in the past 24 hours,” he said.
although it insisted there were “already well-established, in-depth and organised
processes” in place to screen cargo.
redundant” security checks of air passengers to be abolished, highlighting the
removal of shoes and separate screening of laptops.
travelled on two passenger flights before it was intercepted in Dubai it made
it very difficult for the government to consider relaxing passenger measures.
and airlines.
in Dubai – were both built by the same man who made the explosive device used
in the failed “underpants” bomb attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.
for al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch – was named as the prime suspect.
has apparently been freed.
had no known links to Islamist militants and may have been the victim of identity
fraud.
Peninsula was key to security concerns.
The possibility that the al-Qaeda off-shoot was a bigger threat than al-Qaeda
in Pakistan and Afghanistan would concern the US, he said.
separate passenger planes via the airline’s hub in Doha.
were apparently inserted in printer cartridges.
Methods vary between countries, ranging from none at all to screening a small
sample or simply matching consignment sheets with goodsUK uses a ‘known consignor’ system, where freight companies are audited by the
Department for TransportOnce the company is given trusted status, its freight is not checked The audit includes an inspection of site, recruitment and checks on staff, security
training, and storage proceduresFreight from companies without the status is screened by third parties, using
basic x-rays and sniffer dogs searching for explosives
but given the scale of the freight business it may be impossible to check all
cargo.
the explosive used – PETN – is almost undetectable.
that effects not only freight flights but also passenger flights.
security measures – despite last week’s call from the BA boss. There may even
have to be a tightening of the checks.
– on control orders and 28-days detention – regardless of the pressure from Liberal
Democrats, would appear increasingly remote.
said the Yemeni bombing plot had taken advantage of known weaknesses in the way
international cargo is screened. Not all cargo is screened. In 2008 only 3 – 4%
of cargo on passenger planes was being screened worldwide. Britain and other countries
remain vulnerable to terrorists switching their focus to cargo planes. Just a
small amount of pentaerythritol tetranitrate, better know as PETN, could badly
damage a plane.