Terrorists could smuggle the components needed to make a bomb on board a plane in Britain despite restrictions on carrying liquids in hand luggage, a television documentary has alleged. The show’s researchers mixed together several unidentified chemicals which were odourless, colourless and contained in bottles of less than 100ml (the enforced limit at most airports worldwide). They then placed the ‘bomb’ inside a decommissioned aircraft and detonated it using a commercial detonator. The resulting blast blew a hole in the side of the aircraft and snapped the ribs of the fuselage, damage that would be enough to make the pilot lose control of the aircraft were it to happen in mid-air.
Critics of the current approach to aviation security in the UK claim that screening of and restrictions on hand luggage remains ineffective without screening and profiling of passengers themselves.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/26/nbomb126.xml
