Security officials order extra airport checks on hi-tech phones and shoes amid fears al-Qaeda plans to target a US bound plane with "stealth" bomb
Security has been stepped up at British airports Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Tom Whitehead, Security Editor
12:50PM BST 04 Jul 2014
The Telegraph
Terrorists plan to use “stealth” bombs hidden inside smart phones or shoes to bring down a passenger jet, US security officials fear.
Airport security in the UK, America and other countries has been ramped up amid fears al-Qaeda plans to use British and other Western jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq as suicide bombers.
It is feared master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has developed a new explosive that could evade current security checks.
And in the clearest indication yet as to the new threat, US officials have warned partners to focus on smartphones and shoes.
Devices such as iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones were singled out for extra security checks on America-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Related Articles
_ Britain planned to train and equip 100,000 Syrian rebels - 04 Jul 2014
_ Body searches in British airports - 03 Jul 2014
_ British jihadi: I won't return to UK until black flag flies over Buckingham Palace - 04 Jul 2014
_ How to minimise airport stress - 04 Jul 2014
_ Fears terrorists will target planes with computer and human bombs - 03 Jul 2014
_ Hike in airport security may be permanent, says Nick Clegg - 03 Jul 2014
It is also feared that al-Asiri may have perfected a new type of shoe bomb.
In 2001, Briton Richard Reid tried to detonate explosives packed in to his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami.
How it failed to explode and Reid was later jailed for life.
There also fears that al-Asiri may be trying to develop a “body bomb” where explosives are surgically implanted in to fanatic volunteers.
The warnings came as American-based experts criticised the UK for failing to tackle the problem of young Muslims heading for Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups.
Holidaymakers now face invasive physical checks and lengthy delays at Britain’s airports this summer.
Travellers at Heathrow were subjected to “vigorous” body searches and clothing and shoes were swabbed for traces of explosive. Passengers were ordered to switch on laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices, and bags were taking twice as long to pass through scanners, according to reports.
Passengers boarding American-bound planes were understood to have undergone a second round of checks before boarding their flights.
A memo sent to all airports by the Department of Transport urged staff to enhance checks, with laptops subject to particular scrutiny.
In Manchester, a passenger reported taking an hour to pass through security.
David Cameron said the safety of passengers “must come first” while Nick Clegg, his deputy, warned travellers that the new checks would be a permanent feature. It is feared that the measures will lead to a summer of long queues and delays for holidaymakers, just weeks after the chaos surrounding the passport applications backlog.
Intelligence suggests that AQAP, and specifically al-Asiri, has linked up with the Jabhat Al-Nusra jihadists in Syria and passed on bomb-making skills.
Beefed-up security at foreign airports with direct flights to the US was requested by Jeh Johnson, the American secretary of homeland security. The move underlined growing White House unease at the apparent failure of the UK and other European countries to stop young Muslims heading to Syria and Iraq to join Islamist groups.
The Prime Minister said: “We take these decisions looking at the evidence in front of us and working with our partners. This is something we’ve discussed with the Americans and what we have done is put in place some extra precautions and extra checks. The safety of the travelling public must come first.
We mustn’t take any risks with that. I hope this won’t lead to unnecessary delays but it’s very important that we always put safety first.” A Department for Transport spokesman said most passengers should not experience “significant disruption”, but Mr Clegg said the new checks were unlikely to be “a one-off, temporary thing”.
“This is the world we now live in,” he said on his weekly LBC radio phone-in. “I don’t want people to think that this is some sort of blip for a week. This is part of an evolving and constant review.”
The alert centred on fears that Asiri, who was behind the “underpants bomb” on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, is passing on his expertise to fighters in Syria because he knows he could be killed at any point.
Mr Johnson said: “We in national security are very concerned about the foreign fighter flow, going into Syria in particular, from the United States, from European countries, other countries, and we’re tracking that population.” The US government added that there was a “real time” and “credible” threat.
At Heathrow, Lisa Simeone, 57, an American journalist, said security staff were carrying out “vigorous” physical searches which she likened to assault, as well as extra tests for explosives. She claimed men and women manning the scanners.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
05072014
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment