The British airline Virgin Atlantic yesterday blamed U.S. security procedures at Washington Dulles International Airport for failing to detect bullets that a Sudanese man was arrested for carrying after his trans-Atlantic flight landed in London.
The passenger was detained and arrested on terrorism-related charges yesterday at Heathrow Airport by British police who discovered the ammunition during a security check as the 45-year-old man attempted to board the flight to his destination, Dubai.
“Screening of passengers at Washington Dulles airport is the responsibility of the Transportation Security Administration,” said a statement by Virgin Atlantic, which also said that the “item seized” did not pose a threat to its aircraft.
A TSA spokesman said “several pieces of ammunition” were discovered after the “uneventful flight,” but would not speculate as to how the bullets could have circumvented security at Dulles, where several flights were canceled last month because of concerns of a terrorist attack.
“That is being investigated; there is just too much we don’t know right now,” the TSA spokesman said.
U.S. law-enforcement sources said the suspect might have carried as many as five bullets of two different calibers in a coat pocket while aboard Virgin Atlantic Flight VS022. The bullets were discovered when the garment was put through an X-ray machine.
The suspect originally was detained and questioned under a British firearms law, then arrested and charged with the involvement, commission, preparation or instigation in acts of terrorism.
“A quantity of suspected ammunition was found in his possession. The items are being forensically examined,” a police statement said.
A London to Washington air route was identified as a likely target of a terrorist attack during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays and prompted an increase in the nation’s security-alert status from elevated to high. The terrorist threat was lowered Friday and no major incidents were reported.
Numerous security concerns prompted the cancellation of U.S.-bound flights from Britain, France and Mexico, focusing particularly on British Airways Flight 223 from Heathrow to Dulles, which was canceled three times because of intelligence concerns about a terrorist attack.
The lapse raises questions in the United States as to whether airports are more or less secure since Congress federalized operations and security after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
An American Eagle flight from New York Saturday to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was diverted to Dulles after a passenger threatened to blow up the plane if it did not take him to Australia. No explosives were found.
Criticism of the Dulles security lapse was swift in Europe, where airline pilots have resisted U.S. requirements that armed marshals be aboard flights to the United States. An entry system into the United States established this month to increase airline security requires electronic fingerprinting and photographing and has angered some foreign travelers.
A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BAPA) said the incident reinforces their position that tighter ground security is needed, not armed air security.
“Doubtless questions are being asked in America as to how he got through their ground security and onto the plane,” said Jim McAuslan, BAPA general secretary.
Asked if federal officials are testing airport screening points to ensure accuracy, the spokesman said “checkpoints are tested all the time” but could not provide any details on Dulles.
Last year, a 20-year-old college student admitted to smuggling box cutters onto U.S. commercial planes. He said he was testing security measures.
• Jerry Seper contributed to this report.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.