UK orders re-screening of cargo from India, Pak, Iran

As an aftermath of the recent mail bomb plot, Britain has tightened screening of air cargo passing through the country and ordered re-screening of parcels originating from some cities in India, Pakistan, Iran and some other countries.

“Cargo originating from some cities in India, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Maldives, Sudan and Libya will have to be re-screened after arriving in Britain before being loaded onto onward flights,” Britain’s Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told newsmen.

Currently, such flights do not need to be screened in the UK.

After a meeting with industry representatives here, Hammond said they also discussed a proposed system of grading countries sending air cargo to the UK, according to perceived risk.

Countries that have screening measures matching those of the UK and the European Union could have easier access to the UK than those that do not, he indicated.

When investigators pulled some Chicago-bound packages off cargo planes in England and the United Arab Emirates last week, they found two bombs wired to cell phones and hidden in the toner cartridges of computer printers. They were sent from Yemen. Following the uncovering of the plot being blamed on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the UK banned all air cargo from Somalia and Yemen.