Newsstand - airport gun stunt backfires -- don't try this

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2391084

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">News of the World reporter Robert Kellaway successfully smuggled a replica M-16 machinegun onto an airliner in the kind of exploit that has become a staple for Britain's tabloids since the September 11 attacks on America.</font>

and

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">"All three were arrested for conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence," said a police spokeswoman.</font>

I am glad the authorities are on top of this. Now if we could only get the real bad guys to publish their exploits, the authorities could really do a bag up job.

(in reference to the authorities using the published accounts as the basis for the investigation and arrests.)

I like the charge http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Man, had this happened in the US, you can imagine the anti-TSA crowd going bonkers. But since it was the much touted "european" model, I doubt anything much will be made of this. Of course this same scenario could probably happen here, and more stringent charges filed.

The problem is that they are strip searching the pax and the flight crews, meanwhile the back door is totally open and the workers are not checked. Too much time spent on us removing our shoes and taking flashlights away from pilots and too little on checking out the thousands with access to the tarmac.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by biggs:
The problem is that they are strip searching the pax and the flight crews, meanwhile the back door is totally open and the workers are not checked. Too much time spent on us removing our shoes and taking flashlights away from pilots and too little on checking out the thousands with access to the tarmac. </font>

I have been saying that for months now. The public can't see that area though so they might actually have to implement real security instead of the illusion in place for passengers.



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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

There are any number of things that can be brought in a straightforward fashion through "security" that could be dangereous. But as long as we have to take off our shoes we'll be totally safe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

A stunt like this one (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum109/HTML/005985.html) was tried in the US and also resulted in charges.