Heathrow Blow

WEDNESDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2009

http://atthesauce.blogspot.com/2009/11/heathrow-bomb-security-terrorism.html

Heathrow Blow

A catastrophic breach in security at Britain's busiest airport has been discovered by undercover government investigators, the-sauce.org can reveal.

The secret probe into security measures at Heathrow found that terrorists would have been able to smuggle a bomb "airside" under the noses of the private company checking vehicles going into one of the main gates.

The investigation was run by the Department for Transport and the breached resulted in a warning being issued against the private company running the gate where immigrants being deported are searched.


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Members of the security team at the firm responsible, Wilson James Secure Logistics, were told that the government had considered closing the airport because of the serious nature of the breach and they had just 30 days to upgrade their work.

Security at Britain's security was supposed to have been hugely tightened following the terrorist attack in London on July 7, 2005 and car bombing at Glasgow airport.

The bombing over Lockerbie followed a break-in at Heathrow and the best evidence available suggests this is when the bomb was smuggled into baggaging at the airport.

Swine
The most likely culprit for the Lockerbie bombing, Ahmed Jibril of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, remains at large.

The security lapse happened at the Rapid Goods Screening Centre at gate CP14 of Terminal 4 where deportees held by the Home Office are searched before being taken to their flights.

Lorries carrying food for plane passengers, linen and other goods are also searched by WJ Secure Logistics staff before passing through the BAA controlled gate to the runways.

A member of security staff, who refused to be named, said: "A blue van had been searched but left the area with its back doors open. The DfT was able to smuggle an object onto to the back of the van.

“They must have been watching the site for days without being noticed to know that vehicle would come through unsecured.

"We are the last people to search the vans. Once they get through the gate they can access any part of the airport, including baggage areas and the planes.

“We've not been told what was placed on the van but the point of the exercise is to show that a bomb could have got through."

Security staff at the gate blame a £300 cut in monthly pay, a reduction in staff from more than 70 to 50 at the site and the introduction of 12 hour shifts for a serious decline in standards. One member of staff also contracted swine flu.

Operational Issues
Department for Transport staff were able to”smuggle” an “alien object” onto a light blue transit lorry owned by Morgan Est, which has a depot near the gate, after it had been searched by WJ Secure Logistics and which was then cleared by BAA to go airside.

A line manager at CP14 called staff into a meeting on September 28 and explained the Department for Transport had managed to breach security, telling them: “We came that close to being closed down. They were going to shut Heathrow”.

Wilson James won the contract to run the security post after it was outsourced by BAA, which runs Heathrow. The company is responsible for searching and x-raying more than 250 vehicles a day and also body searching deportees before they are allowed airside.

BAA, which runs Heathrow, today denied a deficiency notice had been served against them or – as the security guard claims – against WJ Secure Logistics.

A spokeswoman added: “I'm not going to speculate on that (whether WJ Secure Logistics failed to prevent DfT staff smuggling items airside). I have looked into this and there has been no deficiency notice served either against BAA or the company.”

The Department for Transport regulates aviation security through the National Aviation Security Programme (NASP). The Programme sets down the security standards that apply at UK airports to ensure the safety of the travelling public.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Ensuring the safety of the travelling public is our highest priority, which is why we regularly inspect aviation security standards. While we do not comment on specific operational issues, we will not do anything that puts passengers at risk.”