A Dutch journalist smuggled a fake bomb and drugs onto airliners at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to demonstrate weaknesses at Europe’s fourth-busiest air travel hub, he said on Wednesday.
Alberto Stegeman, an investigative journalist whose report of the security breach was to be broadcast on Dutch television channel SBS 6 on Wednesday, said an associate secured a job at Schiphol as a baggage handler.
“When you work there, you can do anything,” Stegeman said.
Stegeman said he used his accomplice’s uniform and credentials to smuggle a fake bomb, complete with a digital timer and fake explosive blocks, onto a plane.
Over a three month period, they were also able to take drugs into flight cabins and other areas of planes because gate personnel always let uniformed workers into the cabins.
“It’s unbelievable it was that easy,” Stegeman said.
A spokesman for Schiphol Airport had no immediate reaction to Stegeman’s investigation but said the airport complied fully with European Union regulations on security.
“The EU conducts regular audits and we have been audited in the last few months,” the spokesman said.
The Dutch Green Party called for a debate on Wednesday to discuss the breaches at Schiphol, which were reported widely by Dutch media ahead of Stegeman’s broadcast. The military police at the airport will also investigate the breach, news agency ANP-Reuters reported.
Last year, Schiphol began using new body-scanning machines at security checkpoints to find metals and explosives hidden under clothing by using harmless radio waves to display head-to-toe images of passengers, as well as staff.
(Reuters)
Why would anybody want to try and smuggle a bomb airside at an airport ,it is VERY hard to do ,at Manchester I dont think you would have a cat in hells chance of doing it.
If somebody really wanted to make a statement and kill and main lots of people,you would not need to go airside or even have to worry about explosives in you bag.All you would need to do is stay landside in a morning at the busy time,take Manchester between 5 am and 10 am ,T3 has 3 sometimes 4 flights going to the US and hundreds if not 1000’s of passengers and greeters,one bomb in the middle of the checkin hall and you have the desired effect.Just think what Heathrow and Gatwick are like and the carnage it would cause there.People are not screened to get into any airport ,just airside ,I have often thought why,admited it would be a hard job and cause lots of extra deleys,BUT it is only a matter of time before it happens.
Paul
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