BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN light of the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Delta Airlines flight, the Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport is left with no choice but to step up security at the Federation’s Airports.
This pronouncement was made by the Director of Maritime and Civil Aviation Affairs, McClean Hobson, who added that outgoing passengers to the USA would now have to undergo full-body scans.
He noted that despite the best efforts things could still go wrong and the local Civil Aviation officials feel everything must be put in place to minimise the risk of terrorism.
“Several US flights originate in the Federation and we cannot afford any major breaches, especially since we are highly dependent on US tourists to drive the economy. This almost means whatever the US does, in terms of civil aviation security, we will be forced to do…so why wait.
“Already we are in discussion with TSA for sourcing full-body scanners which have been implemented in the US and the Netherlands. We would not want to find ourselves in situation like Nigeria and Ghana, accusing each other of security lapses regarding the failure to stop Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from transiting through their Airports with explosives,” Hobson opined.
He explained that with the implementation of these short measures, in the meantime, the Civil Aviation Division, with technical assistance from TSA and ICAO, would continue to push for the overall improvement of security at the Federation’s Airports through the National Civil Aviation and Airports Security programmes, despite the many challenges.
On Christmas Day (Dec. 25), 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed in his attempt to destroy a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with a special powder called Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate or PETN sewn into his underwear.
According to information reaching this media house, Abdulmutallab had boarded the plane in Amsterdam on Dec. 24 with a device attached to his body. On board, he went into the bathroom for 20 minutes, came out and covered himself with a blanket and then tried to set off the device.
Additional information states that some passengers reported hearing noises similar to firecrackers and noticed the Nigerian pants legs and a section of plane’s wall were on fire. The fire was extinguished, Abdulmutallab was subdued, taken into custody and subsequently charged.
According to The Guardian, a Nigerian newspaper, Abdulmutallab attended private boarding schools as a child. A Nigerian online news service, next.com, noted that after studying mechanical engineering in London he left for Dubai and Yemen to study Islam, breaking links with his family.
This unprecedented action had caused his father, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, to become concerned about his disappearance and he reported the matter to the Nigerian security agencies some two months prior to the attempted bombing.
The matter was also reported to a number of foreign security agencies, including the US, two weeks after their Nigerian counterparts were informed, and “it was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day”, a Nigerian media house reported the family as saying.
