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Police seize ammunition at Heathrow

"You only need vigilance to lapse for one piece of luggage and that bag gets through."

David Learmount of ``Flight International'' magazine

A Sudanese man who flew from Washington to London on Wednesday was arrested on suspicion of possessing ammunition and involvement in an act of terrorism, police said.

The 45-year-old man arrived at Heathrow Airport on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington's Dulles International Airport and was in transit when he was arrested, a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said.

The man was initially arrested under Section 1 of the Firearms Act after passing through a security check, the police spokesman said. He did not describe the suspected ammunition but said it was undergoing forensic tests.

Later, airport security sources said that five bullets had been discovered when the man passed through the security checkpoint.

The sources said police ballistics experts were examining the bullets to see if they were live and usable.

Police later arrested the man under a provision of the 2000 anti-terrorism legislation that covers alleged involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terror.

They said the man would be interviewed by anti-terrorism officers in central London, but did not immediately provide any other details.

A spokesman for BAA PLC, which operates Heathrow, said the man was trying to board a flight to Dubai when he was arrested.

In Washington the US Transportation Security Administration, in charge of airport security, said the plane had arrived in London after "an uneventful flight" and pointed out that "the situation under investigation arose while the passenger was undergoing security screening prior to boarding a connecting flight at Heathrow.

``During the process, several pieces of ammunition were discovered in the man's possession," agency spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan said.

She said that the agency was working with its "international airline and law enforcement partners to investigate" the incident.

Chris Yates, an aviation security expert for the Jane's publishing group, said the arrest highlighted continuing problems with air security in the US.

"There is an impression with all the rhetoric that the US now has the best security in the world and it can stop anything, anytime -- but it didn't stop a bunch of ammunition getting on a plane from Washington to London, did it?" he said.

David Learmount, of Flight International magazine, said that security depended heavily on airport screeners' vigilance.

"You only need vigilance to lapse for one piece of luggage and that bag gets through," he said.
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