Claims of guns smuggling probed

Airport officials were today trying to discover whether fake explosives, detonators and real guns were successfully smuggled on to a commercial flight.

The potentially lethal cargo was taken undetected on to a British Airways flight from Manchester heading for Gatwick, The Mirror reported.

It was planted by a company testing security procedures at Manchester Airport and permission was sought from British Airways before checking in the bag.

A security guard employed by Securicor ADI - responsible for scanning luggage passing through the airport - has been suspended and an investigation has been launched.

An ADI spokesman said yesterday: ‘‘At Manchester Airport training equipment designed to test security procedures was allowed to pass through a hold baggage screening area by a fully trained, experienced, and CTC (counter-terrorism checks)-cleared security agent.