Asian passengers face profiling

LONDON: Even as Britain reduces its terror alert from critical to severe and airlines allow limited hand luggage, Asian travellers can face more searches as passenger ‘profiling’ may be utilised during security checks.

British Home Secretary John Reid has announced early on Monday morning that the threat posed to the UK by terrorism had been downgraded from critical to severe, meaning that a terror attack was still highly likely but no longer imminent.

Following the announcement, the ban on hand luggage on flights was lifted from most UK airports except Heathrow and Gatwick — Britain’s two busiest airports.

Passengers are now allowed to take on one small piece of hand luggage containing their travel documents and valuables, including laptops and mobile telephones.

Liquids are still banned from being taken on board the aircraft or through security checks. Laptops, mobiles and other electronic items will be checked separately from other carry on baggage.

The more stringent security checks have also forced airlines to cancel upto 30 per cent of their flights. British Airports Authority ordered airlines to cut outgoing flights by 30 per cent or be banned from using Heathrow altogether.

More than 2,00,000 passengers use Heathrow every day during the peak holiday season of August. Lakhs of passengers are still facing the misery of congestion at airports, flight delays and cancellations.

In order to ease security checks at airports there have been demands for extra security to be concentrated on passengers who fit the profile of potential suicide bombers.

Former Scotland Yard chief Lord Stevens said passenger ‘profiling’ would stop unnecessary delays. He was backed by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who said the ‘disruption was playing into the hands’ of terrorists.

Passenger profiling would automatically mean that Asians and those with Muslim sounding names from all over the world would be picked for stringent security checks.

The fact that three of the 23 still in police custody for the alleged terror plot are British converts has made profiling that much harder.

“I’m sure an Asian Muslim would not be stupid enough to take bomb on board if they knew they would be searched and what could happen is they could find a white middle-class Muslim to take it on board instead,” commented Wendy Green, 63, a retired nurse from West London.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard said that they had found two guns from the homes of the 23 people arrested. They have not released the names of the suspects from whose homes the guns were found.