Airport guards flunked anti-terror test 2 times By Arlyn dela Cruz Inquirer Last updated 01:19am (Mla time) 09/01/2006 Published on Page A1 of the September 1, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer A MAN WEARING a jacket and carrying a bag was able to sneak a bomb onto a flight from Manila to Davao City last month at the height of the nationwide security alert after Britain uncovered a plot to blow up transatlantic planes. The man pulled off the same stunt on the return flight to Manila. Had he detonated the bomb, he would have turned the commercial plane into a fireball and killed himself, the crew and hundreds of other passengers. The man turned out to be a civilian antiterrorism expert tapped by a government official to test security measures at Philippine airports after British police foiled a plan to blow up US-bound planes in midair using liquid explosives. Security was tightened at London’s Heathrow airport on Aug. 10, setting off alarms at airports across the globe, including in the Philippines. But the security and antiterrorism expert, who asked not to be named because of his work, said he managed to bring the bomb and its components onto the plane on Aug. 14 despite the additional security measures at the Manila domestic airport, like the banning of hand-carried fluids and gels. A similar “insertion of bomb components scenario” is expected to be conducted at other airports in the country as part of efforts to upgrade the antiterrorism capability of airport personnel. At the departure gate, the antiterrorism expert said he passed through the walk-in detector, frisking and X-ray areas. He underwent the same security checks at the boarding area. To prove that he was able to get the explosive and its components past security personnel, he filmed the bomb he had assembled on the plane and showed the footage recently to select members of the media. How did he get the bomb and its components past the tight security? C4 plastic bomb The security expert said he attached a piece of C4, a plastic explosive, to the sole of his leather shoe, and placed another piece inside an electric adaptor. The wires he placed in a “secret” pocket near his belt. While at the scanning and X-ray area prior to boarding, he casually placed a cellular phone in the basket that security personnel checked manually. The cell phone could serve as a detonator. Ten minutes after takeoff from the Manila domestic airport, the antiterrorism expert said he got up from his seat and went to the plane’s lavatory. Inside, he mixed all the materials together. He then pulled out a digital camera from his jacket and took a video of his lethal concoction. “The only missing act was the push on the button to blow up the aircraft,” he said in an interview. “In a real terrorist threat, the terrorist, usually a suicide bomber, will not hesitate and push the button to accomplish his or her mission.” Astonished The antiterrorism expert said airport security personnel came to know about what he had done only after he told them about it when he got off the return flight from Davao. Security personnel, around 50 of them, participated in the antiterrorism exercise. They were astonished to realize that they had not been that thorough in checking passengers. None of the airport personnel who participated in the training knew the antiterrorism expert. He was introduced to the security personnel by the “authorized government agency” that had hired him only after he alighted from the plane. Think like a terrorist In an interview, the antiterrorism expert said: “To catch a terrorist, security personnel must act and think like a terrorist.” After the antiterrorist exercise, he submitted his recommendations, which he hoped would be forwarded to the Air Transportation Office (ATO) by the “authorized government agency” that commissioned his services. Among his recommendations were the following: • All items like cigarette and eyeglass cases, key chains, watches and all other objects made of metallic materials must pass through the X-ray machine. • Shoes and belts must be removed from the body and must be submitted for X-ray examination. • Airline crew must undergo rigid training on the threat of bomb insertion. • Politicians, military and police officers, and all other government officials must not be exempted from frisking and standard security checks to set an example so that other passengers will cooperate in the stringent security checks. • Training of airport personnel must be upgraded but must start with a review of the basics. The security lapse at the Manila domestic airport and at the Davao International Airport may be due to the fact that security personnel did not really know what to look for, according to the antiterrorism expert. The expert said security personnel may have been looking for what is believed to be sophisticated bomb components, like liquid bombs. Diversion In his sixth recommendation, the expert said authorities must consider the threat posed by liquid bombs, but they must also consider that it could be a way to divert attention from the actual plot of terrorists. “For all we know, this is what the terrorists want us to think. That they have the capability to build liquid bombs, but the truth is the option still available to them remains the conventional components for making bombs,” he said. He recommended that politicians and other officials not be exempted from security checks because security personnel may get the wrong idea of how a terrorist looks like and behaves. “Right now, there is no fixed way in identifying terrorists. The key is to know how they think, what they are trained for and what makes them do this, usually based on religious convictions,” he said. http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=18380 This may give a better picture of a terrorist determined to carry out a bombing mission, the expert said.
