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| US Scanners Went Unused At Nigeria Airport |
| 2010-01-01 |
| The U.S. gave Nigeria four full-body scanners for its international airports in 2008 to detect explosives and drugs, but none were used on the man suspected trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight, Nigerian officials say. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tracked by cameras through the security check, only went through a metal detector and had his bag X-rayed when he arrived at Nigeria's busiest airport to start his journey, the officials say. The Soter RS scanners delivers 3-D images that would have shown something hidden under clothing. But a spokesman for the anti-drug agency, which operates the Nigerian machines, told The Associated Press that the one at Lagos airport is used sporadically and only on potential narcotics smugglers. After clearing security at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Abdulmutallab flew to Amsterdam, boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253, and allegedly lit an explosive device hidden in his underpants as the plane approached Detroit on Christmas Day. Even word of the scanners' presence in Nigeria's four main airports apparently hasn't reached top officials, including one responsible for airline safety. Harold Demuren, the head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters Wednesday that his government would buy 3-D full-body scanners for the airports, and insisted there were currently none there. But on Thursday, Ofoyeju Mitchell of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, told the AP that one of the machines sits in a room near the security checkpoint in Lagos' often chaotic international airport. He said they aren't used on every passenger. Instead, drug agents select frequent flyers, travelers heading to and from drug shipment points, and people who seem deceptive or under stress. Nigeria is a major transit point for Afghan heroin and South American cocaine. "The frequency of checks is determined by the risk level of our assessment ... (and) reasonable cause for suspicion," Mitchell said. Such limited use is not what the U.S. State Department intended when it gave Nigeria the scanners. According to an April 30 U.S. State Department report, the scanners were installed in March, May and June of 2008 "to detect explosives and drugs on passengers." The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria would not comment on the use of the scanners. In new information released Thursday, Information Minister Dora Akunyili said Abdulmutallab flew into Lagos from Accra, Ghana on Christmas Eve and "spent less than 30 minutes" in the airport before catching the flight to Amsterdam. Nigerian officials had said earlier that his round-trip ticket was bought in Accra for $2,831 in cash on Dec. 16. Akunyili's statement did not say how he spent the rest of the week before flying to Lagos. Abdulmutallab raised no alarms as he boarded the flight to Amsterdam. He also underwent a second set of searches in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport that turned up nothing. Schiphol has 15 scanners, but the U.S. has discouraged their routine use on privacy grounds. Dutch authorities say Abdulmutallab raised no suspicions that would require a scan. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #4 Another idea occured to me. We shouldn't have _given_ the equipment to Nigeria. It should have been a loan, with the understanding that "You screw up, you don't get to keep it." In fact, I'd have also liked to have seen something like "OK, your security screwed up, you don't get to have a direct connection with the US" put into effect. Something to think about if we ever get a more representative government. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-01-01 21:21 |
| #3 Maybe Genghis Khan was onto something. It is said that during his reign, a woman could travel alone with a bag of gold from Persia to China and back and not have a moment's trouble. While we catch criminals, cool their heels a while in a comfy prison and then send them back home, they continue to slaughter our people. Maybe it is time to take a different approach. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2010-01-01 20:42 |
| #2 IF we recognize this as a form of economic warfare, AND if we discriminate between those who _are_ practicing economic warfare against us, and those who _aren't_, there might be a point to doing this sort of profiling ourselves. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-01-01 16:46 |
| #1 The Nigerian airport doesn't _need_ the scanners. It's not like Al Qaeda's going to blow up an airliner going to or from Nigeria. These are forms of economic warfare, and they already more or less own Nigeria already. Maybe if one of the oppressed minority groups were to make the leap to blowing up airliners... in which case the government there would probably just use profiling with a vengeance on the subject tribes, and leave the citizen tribes alone. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-01-01 16:18 |