UK Prime Minister: Full-body scanners to be introduced in British airports

Full-body scanners to be put in British airports

LONDON — Full-body scanners will be introduced in Britain in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday,

Brown told the British Broadcasting Corp. that all airport security would be increased in Britain, and all passengers, even those only transiting through the country, will have their hand luggage screened for traces of explosives.

The suspect in the failed Northwest Airlines bombing had changed planes in The Netherlands and gone through security but not through a full-body scanner.

Brown warned that there was no guarantee that the new technology would work.

“We cannot be convinced of the absolute proof of the working at 100 percent level of any technology, that is absolutely true,” he said.

“We have found that there is a new form of explosive that is not being identified by ordinary machines. We have got to go further. Our first duty is to the security of the people of this country.”

Britain’s main airport operator BAA says it has ordered full-body scanners for Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow, but said they had to be used with other security measures.

“It is our view that a combination of technology, intelligence and passenger profiling will help build a more robust defense against the unpredictable and changing nature of the terrorist threat to aviation,” BAA said in a statement.

Heathrow and Manchester airports have had trials using the full-body scanners.