U.K. bans UPS air cargo screening
The U.K. government appears to have lost confidence in the security screening procedure of UPS – and has now banned UPS from screening air cargo at some facilities in the United Kingdom; last year, a printer filled with explosives was found on a UPS U.S.-bound flight — but the printer was found not because of UPS screnning but owing to a tip-off from an informer; in March, the U.K. security services placed a fake bomb on an Istanbul-bound UPS flight, and the bomb made it to Turkey without being detected
U.K. will not allow UPS to screen its own cargo any longer // Source: flightglobal.com
The U.K. government says it has barred parcel company UPS from screening air cargo at some facilities in the United Kingdom because of security problems. The Department of Transportation did not offer any of the details which ked to its decision, but said that the ban will remain in effect until the carrier “has satisfied current security requirements”.
For its part, UPS said it was “working to address the problems.”
The BBC reports that a bomb was found last October on a UPS cargo plane at East Midlands airport. The explosives were discovered inside a printer on a U.S.-bound flight after a tip-off and were not picked up by initial screening. A similar bomb was also found around the same time, on a FedEx plane in Dubai.
U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May then banned unaccompanied freight flown to the United Kingdom from Somalia. Unaccompanied air freight from Yemen had already been suspended earlier in the year. The BBC notes that ink cartridges weighing more than 500 grams in hand baggage on flights out of the United Kingdom and on cargo flights were also banned.
In March, a fake bomb was put by the U.K. security services on a UPS cargo plane and flown from the United Kingdom to Turkey without being detected. The package containing a timer, wires and a detonator.
