Airport alert on for suicide bombers

Aviation authorities said yesterday they are stepping up screening procedures at airports for terrorists who could be trying to board planes after "swallowing" explosives as a technique to avoid detection.

They said the safety measures were put in place to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, when hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon.

"Methods involving the use of liquid explosives and simple timing devices as used by the terrorists operating out of the Philippines are indicative of the variety of tactics that may be developed by terrorists," said a security directive at the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

"The possibility of terrorists, or persons with criminal or other motivation, intent on attacking aviation, carrying explosives internally must also be considered," it added.

The memorandum suggested that militants could use methods "similar to the technologies used by drug couriers."

Drug couriers have been known to swallow or even surgically implant packets of narcotics in their bodies or the bodies of their pets to avoid detection at airports.

Retired Gen. Angel Atutubo, MIAA Assistant General Manager for security and emergency services, said aviation authorities have recently stepped up security checks, including x-rays and body searches. Bomb sniffing dogs have also been dispatched.

The United States considers the Philippines a key ally in the war on terrorism but expressed disappointment when Manila acceded to Islamic militants’ demands and pulled out its troops in Iraq last month to save the life of Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz.

Washington has also expressed concern over training sites allegedly maintained by the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group in the rebellion-torn Mindanao.

The two countries say the group is a Southeast Asian proxy of the al-Qaeda network behind the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

In the memorandum, the MIAA identified the seven main categories of threat to aviation:

• Acts of unlawful seizure of aircraft or hijacking.

• Acts of sabotage to aircraft either on ground or airborne.

• Use of aircraft as weapons of mass destruction.

• Attacks against aviation facilities and infrastructure (airport and air traffic services).

• Missiles and other such attacks against an aircraft in flight, or from exterior sources.

• Use of aircraft to facilitate technical, chemical or biological attacks.

• Use of cyber or other electronic attacks.

The report by Atutubo was prepared during the recent audit of the Transportation Security Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex in Parañaque City.

Atutubo said such threats usually involve conventional attacks using firearms and other weapons, explosive devices, vehicle bombs, missiles, arson or mass public disorder like protest demonstrations.

The use of chemical, biological or nuclear materials, cyber attacks and electronic interruption of aircraft controls from within or outside the aircraft all pose risk that will need to be addressed at the soonest possible time, he said.

What may be hoaxes, but appear to be credibly communicated threats can cause substantial havoc and disruption to aviation unless properly and responsibly managed, Atutubo noted.

The advent of highly motivated terrorists prepared to die in the course of carrying out an attack against civil aviation has added another dimension that must be considered, he also pointed out. — AFP, Sandy Araneta