Sydney police review terror measures after London bombs

Police in Sydney may be given the power to search the bags of people riding on public transport in the aftermath of the London terror bombings, a political leader said today.

Police in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, already have the power to search people suspected of carrying weapons or illegal items, such as drugs, Premier Bob Carr told reporters in the state capital, Sydney.

However, the government is considering allowing police to conduct random searches of passengers’ bags on the state’s rail, bus and ferry networks at times of heightened security, Carr said.

"I wouldn’t expect anything like regular or systematic searching of bags … that’s not practical,” he said. ”But given a situation where the threat level might have gone up, I think it’s reasonable to think that police, as one of the weapons in their armoury, might be able to search bags at random.”

Hundreds of thousands of people each day use trains, buses and ferries to commute around Sydney.

Carr said New South Wales state police, who are armed, do not currently have shoot-to-kill powers, but the state would consider such powers if its public transport system were to experience attacks like the July 21 bombing – when bombs on three tube trains and a central London bus only partially detonated - and the suicide bombings two weeks earlier which killed four bombers and 52 other people.

“I think everything would be up for review should we be subjected to back-to-back terrorism assaults in the mass transit system,” Carr said.

Meanwhile, the former head of Britain’s national criminal intelligence service arrived in Australia on Monday to examine security measures at the country’s airports and recommend improvements to prevent a terrorist attack.

While Australia has never experienced a major terror attack, Howard’s strong and vocal support of the US-led war on terror and campaign in Iraq has heightened fears that this country could be targeted by extremists.