UK bans UPS air cargo screening over security fears
The Government bars parcel company UPS from screening air cargo at some UK facilities until it has “satisfied current security requirements”.
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The Department for Transport disclosed the action on Friday but gave no information on the security issues and did not identify the locations involved.
The vulnerability of air cargo to terrorist attacks is a major worry for international security agencies.
Last year, two bombs were sent disguised in toner cartridges on cargo flights from Yemen. One was discovered at a FedEx cargo facility in Dubai, the other at a UPS depot in England.
And in March, a hoax bomb – containing a timer, wires and a detonator – was shipped to Turkey via the UPS office in London.
Following the failed bomb plots of last year, David Cameron chaired an emergency Cobra meeting as the aviation industry reassessed its security system for cargo.
Lord Carlile, the Government’s independent reviewer of anti-terrorist legislation, told Channel 4 News the UK cannot rely on “good practices being followed elsewhere” on the security of parcels coming in and out of the country.
Read more: Yemen's most wanted al-Qaeda plane bomb suspects
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