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Full body scanners will be introduced within three weeks for flights to USA from the airport where Abdulmutallab boarded, it was announced yesterday. The Dutch government also said that a preliminary probe found all security checks were carried out correctly at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, and a passenger list with the bomber’s name on it had been cleared by US authorities.
Interior Minister Guusje Ter Hors said: "It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster." She revealed that Abdulmutallab assembled the explosive device in the plane’s toilet then planned to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. She said the explosives appeared to have been "professionally prepared" but that the execution was "amateurish".
Abdulmutallab arrived in Amsterdam on Christmas Day from Lagos, Nigeria. After less than three hours, he passed through a security check, including a hand baggage scan and a metal detector. Abdulmutallab was carrying a valid Nigerian passport and US visa. Nigeria will follow the Dutch move, with civil aviation authorities in Lagos saying they will buy full body scanners and begin installing them next year. The US had not wanted these scanners to be used previously because of privacy concerns. But now President Obama has agreed that "all possible measures will be used on US flights".
Ian Dowty, a lawyer with Action on Rights of the Child, said the scanners violate child pornography laws. He said: "It shows genitalia, so under English law it’s unlawful if it’s indecent." British authorities have exempted under-18s from body scan trials at Paddington station, London, as well as Heathrow and Manchester airports.
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