Victor Roncea Blog

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas acted alone and probably smuggled the explosives from Nigeria, the Dutch public prosecutor said on Tuesday.WorldThe prosecutor’s office said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not have an accomplice at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, as some other passengers on the flight had alleged.Abdulmutallab, 23, the son of a prominent banker, flew from Lagos to Amsterdam on a KLM flight, arriving on Christmas Day. Prosecutors said the seats from that plane are still being examined for traces of explosives.In Amsterdam, Abdulmutallab went through a profile interview and a security check before waiting at the gate for his flight.He is charged with trying to blow up the flight, Northwest Flight 253, outside of Detroit with a highly explosive substance hidden in his underwear.Some of the passengers on the plane had said they saw him accompanied at the gate in Amsterdam by an older, well-dressed Indian or Pakistani man. But the review of more than 200 hours of video showed no one with him, the officials said.(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport gets 60 full-body scanners Amsterdan
Schiphol airport in Amsterdam has acquired 60 new full-bodyscanners as part of efforts to boost security at the airport. Twenty ofthe new-generation scanners are expected to be available in the nearfuture for use in processing passengers on flights bound for the UnitedStates. They are to be used alongside 16 older full- body scanners,which have already in use for several months.
The decision touse the devices was prompted by an incident on December 25, in which aNigerian man on board a flight from Schiphol to the US city of Detroittried to detonate explosives shortly before landing. The 60scanners cost “several million euros,” Schiphol Airport director JosNijhus said. He said he hoped the government would bear the cost giventhat it was a matter “of the security of the entire community.”Schiphol currently spends in the region of 240 million euros (344 million dollars) a year on security. Nijhusmeanwhile dismissed a report by a London-based tabloid that Schipholhas been designated a “terrorist airport.” The newspaper said itsreporters had made it through airport security checks with a syringefilled with fluid and onto a plane bound for London. Such reports “are not a witness to technical know-how,” Nijhus said.
Surse: CNN, Reuters, Earth Times
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