British police said on Tuesday they are investigating how a 12-year-old boy managed to board a plane at London's Gatwick airport during the security clampdown despite not having either a passport or a boarding pass.
The youngster had run away from a care home in Merseyside, western England, and travelled to London by train before managing to get onto a plane bound for Lisbon on Monday, when British airports were still operating at their highest level of security following the thwarting of an alleged plot to blow up US-bound airliners in mid-flight.
He somehow managed to get through airport security, get on the plane and take a seat before a member of the Monarch Airlines crew noticed he had no boarding pass. He also didn't have a passport or any other travel documents. The crew member alerted police, and two police officers boarded the plane and led the boy off.
Police said they were concerned by the security breach, and an investigation is under way to find out how the boy managed to get on the plane.
“The boy had passed through a full security screening process and we are confident there was no threat to passengers, staff or the aircraft at any time,” a spokesman for the British Airports Authority (BAA) at Gatwick airport said.
Security restrictions were heightened on Thursday when Britain raised its terror alert level to “critical” over the alleged plot to blow up US-bound planes. Twenty-four people were arrested in pre-dawn raids on Thursday. One of the 24 has since been released, and another person was arrested on Tuesday.
3 comments:
Just be thankful he wasn't wearing a backpack.
now we will all be on alert for 12 year olds sneaking on planes..holy shit
When I fly in September I'll only be on the lookout for people called mohommed, abdul , ali and rauf ... especially if they are wearing backpacks !
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