February theme: Aviation securityU.K. trial shows liquids allowed on board can be used for deadly explosive

Serious questions over airport security are raised today by an experiment which found bomb components could be smuggled on to a plane. Daily Mail’s Andrew Gilligan writes that an investigation made a device using colorless and odorless chemicals which can be carried through security in the 100 ml containers permitted by current regulations. Mixed together in a 500 ml water bottle and primed with a detonator, it caused an explosion which ripped a six-foot hole in the fuselage of a decommissioned plane - enough damage to bring down a jet in flight.

The revelation raises concerns over how effectively air passengers are being protected by security regulations in the wake of an alleged al Qaeda plot to blow up transatlantic jets with “liquid bombs.” Philip Baum, editor of the International Journal of Aviation Security, said current checks were “theatre” and that X-ray machines were no deterrent to a bomber. “I cannot cite a single example of a bomb being found using an airport X-ray machine alone,” he said. “Large numbers of people are standing in queues to go through security checks that have little value.” Gilligan writes that researchers for Channel 4’s Dispatches program and the Evening Standard blew a six ft. hole in the side of an aircraft fuselage, something that would probably bring down any aircraft in flight. The test exposes potentially disastrous loopholes in the security regime introduced after the alleged liquid bomb plot in August 2006. The explosive was made by mixing two easily obtainable chemicals that can be carried through security in the permitted 100 milliliter containers. To a security guard, the chemicals — which the Standard would not identify and which cost only a few pounds — are colorless and odorless and seem like water. They can be easily disguised, if necessary, as toiletries. Dr. Sidney Alford, a leading explosives expert who made the bomb for the investigation, said: “Terrorists could easily make this device. They could obtain access to the chemicals without too much difficulty. They’re not particularly tightly-controlled liquids.” Alford’s company, Alford Technologies, specializes in manufacturing improvised explosive device countermeasures that have saved lives in Iraq. The company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2004.

Only about 400 ml. in total of the liquids would be needed to make the bomb, meaning two or three terrorists could carry it through security in the permitted quantities without raising suspicion. The liquids