UK – Internal Terrorist Threat To Airports Due To Lax Staff Security
July 24, 2008 by national
Filed under World Report
It is feared that hundreds of foreigners are being allowed to work in high security parts of Britain’s airports without passing proper criminal record checks.
Despite warnings that terrorists have tried to place sleepers in jobs “airside” in terminals, no attempt has been made to check whether foreign workers have committed any offencses abroad.
A Government-commissioned report today urged for foreign criminal record checks to be made compulsory for airport workers to combat the threat to security. But it called only for new staff to be checked and not those already in post.
The paper, written by former civil servant Stephen Boys Smith, warned that the greatest threat of terrorism in future may be from “internal attack” and added that the “threat is varied and unpredictable.” It said that “long term systemic changes” are needed to combat the threat from within.
There are an estimated 200,000 staff in the “airside” parts of airports employed in shops, cafes or as cleaners in the departure lounge. Others may be employed as baggage handlers, security guards or driving buses between aircraft and the terminal.
The vetting process – using a criminal records check (CRC) – assesses workers only for crimes committed in Britain. Foreign workers – arriving from inside or outside the European Union – are not checked in their country of origin.
