20091228

Johannesburg — EXTRA security staff have been called in to SA's international airports to ensure stricter security measures do not delay flights, following an al-Qaeda-linked Nigerian student's attempt to blow up an aircraft travelling to the US from Europe on Christmas Day.

There is also concern the stricter measures, implemented at the request of the US government, could put additional strain on SA's already stretched transport infrastructure leading up to the World Cup in five months' time, should they remain in place.

The US requested stricter security worldwide after the 23- year-old Nigerian tried, and failed, to blow up a flight from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to Detroit. Airports worldwide tightened security a day after the passenger tried to detonate a device that contained a high explosive.

Passengers now have to contend with extra pat-downs before boarding, staying in their seats without blankets or pillows for the last hour of the flight, and more bomb-sniffing dogs.

Airports Company SA (Acsa) security supervisor Lettie Skosana said in addition to stricter luggage searches, international passengers would no longer be allowed to take any liquids, aerosols or gels in their hand luggage.

Exceptions would be made only for small quantities of liquids where the traveller had a prescription that specified how much medicine needed to be consumed during a flight.

In addition, no one on a US- bound flight would be allowed to buy liquids, aerosols or gels in the duty-free shopping area.

Skosana said extra security staff had to be recalled from leave to beef up security at international airports. "We called them this (Sunday) morning," she said.

Boarding gates were being opened earlier so there was time to check all passengers' hand luggage without delaying flights. Hand luggage was also being checked at book-in, she said.

The security measures were valid for all international flights because "you don't know, they might send someone from another airline" that was not flying to the US, to pass on substances that could be used to make explosives , she said.

The US justice department has charged student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with wilfully attempting to destroy or wreck an aircraft by placing a destructive device in the plane he boarded at Schiphol on Friday.

Abdulmutallab was arrested a month after his father warned US officials of his concern about his son's religious beliefs.

The US government led the world in tightening airline security at the weekend as it searched for answers to how the 23-year-old eluded extensive systems intended to prevent attacks like his botched Christmas Day effort to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight.

South African Airways' Azure Janneker said the airline had implemented additional security measures on flights to Washington and New York to comply with a directive from the US Transport Security Administration.

Measures such as increased prescreening of passengers would apply before departure as well as on board the aircraft, she said.

According to reports, Abdulmutallab, the youngest of 16 children born to a powerful Nigerian banker who worried about his son's extreme views, was a brilliant student studying mechanical engineering at University College, London.

Al-Qaeda involvement in the incident was a "subject of investigation", US homeland security chief Janet Napolitano said.

Nigeria's highest Islamic body yesterday condemned Abdulmutallab's alleged attempt to blow up the aircraft.

"We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man," said Lateef Adegbite, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Nigeria . He said his organisation did not think there was "any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act".

Four weeks ago, Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru Mutallab, told the US embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to US intelligence officials, but apparently not to their European counterparts.

Abdulmutallab received a valid US visa in June last year. It expires at the end of next year.

His is one of about 550000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database maintained by the US National Counterterrorism Centre.

The database was created in response to the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

Intelligence officials said there was not enough evidence to place him on the 400000-person terrorism watch list or on the no-fly list of fewer than 4000 people who should be blocked from air travel.

There was no initial evidence that Abdulmutallab was involved in a larger plot, a senior US official.

However, an al-Qaeda operative in Yemen threatened the US and said "we are carrying a bomb" in a video posted online four days before the botched Christmas Day incident.

The video does not contain any clear evidence that the speaker was anticipating Friday's attempt, but it has attracted scrutiny because of reports that the bombing plot may have originated in Yemen.

Abdulmutallab claims he received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives there, US officials said, and there were "strong suggestions" of a Yemen link.

President Barack Obama has ordered his administration to review detection methods.

"We are investigating, as always, going backwards to see what happened, and when, who knew what and when," Napolitano said.

"Did we do what we needed to do with that information, and how can we revise watch-listing procedures to ensure there's no clog in the bureaucratic plumbing of information," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. With Sapa-AP-AFP