Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Gujarat
Puducherry
|
January 4, 2010 | UK airports given green light for full-body scans | London: Travellers at British airports will be subjected to a full-body scan that sees through clothes and reveal naked images of passengers, after the country's Prime Minister Gordon Brown backed the new system. Brown said the controversial technology, which will be introduced at Heathrow and other airports, was "essential" in tackling a new terrorist threat. The scanners have not been met with favour and have angered privacy campaigners as they see through clothes and reveal naked images of passengers.
The new system was introduced following the failed Christmas Day bombing in the
US, but critics have claimed it will create chaos among travellers. An expert
who helped develop the 100,000 pounds scanners warned they would not detect explosives
like those carried by alleged Al Qaeda bomber Umar Abdulmutallab. Tory MP Ben
Wallace said they could not be relied on to spot modern bombs. "We found they
would not pick up low-density items like chemicals, plastics and liquids. These
are the new tools of terrorism," the Daily Express quoted him as saying. "It's
fine if a suicide bomber is wearing a traditional bomb vest but they don't any
more. "We need more passenger profiling and intelligence to pick out those most
likely to be a threat. "Gordon Brown is grasping at headlines if he thinks buying
a couple of scanners will make us safer," the former Army intelligence officer
stated. Abdulmutallab, 23, has been accused of trying to blow up Flight 253, which
was heading for Detroit. The Nigerian allegedly boarded the jet with chemical
explosives sewn into his underpants and a syringe containing a liquid detonator,
but his homemade bomb failed to explode. Brown, on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show on
January 3, accepted there was no way to be certain that the body scanners would
be "100 per cent" effective. "We have found that there is a new form of explosive
that is not being identified by ordinary machines," he said. "We have got to go
further. Our first duty is to the security of the people of this country," he
stated. The Prime Minister said he hoped the new arrangements would not cause
too much delay for passengers. "I hope we will find a way of doing this in a more
sophisticated way. It will be introduced gradually," he added. Brown also revealed
that explosive trace technology and advanced X-rays for luggage would be introduced. |
More Travel News Headlines
|
|
|
|
|