US air security sharply criticised

US AIRPORT security was criticised last night after a passenger was arrested for carrying ammunition on a flight from Washington to London.

The 45-year-old Sudanese-born suspect was held at Heathrow airport as he went through a routine security check in transit to boarding a connecting flight to Dubai. He had not been picked up by security at Washington’s Dulles airport, where he boarded Virgin flight VS022.

The man was missed there despite the route between London and Washington having been publicly identified as a potential target for terrorists in recent weeks.

Over the festive period there was repeated disruption to British Airways’ London to Washington BA223 service and it was cancelled three times amid terror fears.

As well as suggesting it has beefed up security at its own airports, US officials recently insisted that armed sky marshals travel on some US-bound planes, a request opposed by some airlines and the British pilots’ union Balpa.

Yesterday Balpa said the latest scare showed sky marshals were a side issue and security on the ground at airports was most important.

“As we keep saying, it’s security on the ground that matters,” a spokesman said. “This is where we need to concentrate our investment, and not be diverted into cul-de-sacs like sky marshals. Obviously there will be a lot of questions asked in America as to how he got on the plane undetected.”

Chris Yates, an aviation security expert for publishers Jane’s, said US airport security was still far from tight.

“There is an impression with all the rhetoric that the US now has the best security in the world and it can stop anything anytime, but it didn’t stop a bunch of ammunition getting on a plane from Washington to London, did it?”