UK Air Cargo Security Humdinger

    In UK, website 24dash.com reports that major security flaws in the air cargo industry have been revealed by an investigation on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight.
     BBC said it began an investigation when it learned that the "known shipper" system used by air courier and cargo companies had been broken by drug smugglers and used to import large amounts of cocaine into the UK from America.
     A former employee of Federal Express admitted selling the confidential account numbers of reputable firms at Fedex's depot in Vauxhall, south London, the BBC said.
     Brian Fenn, head of UK security for Fedex, said in court testimony that the known shipper system could also potentially be used to smuggle a bomb on to a plane undetected.
     The BBC said its investigation revealed that the web-based system for tracking parcels could be used by terrorists to target particular flights.
     In August airports across Britain were thrown into chaos by the new security measures applied because of a specific threat concerning hand luggage, 24dash.com said.
     Captain Gary Boettcher (AA), the president of the U.S. Coalition Of Airline Pilots Associations, which represents 22,000 passenger and cargo pilots told BBC:
     "Anywhere down the line packages can be intercepted.
     “Even with reliable, respectable organizations, you really don't know who is in the warehouse, who is tampering with packages, who is putting the original parcels together.
     "Anywhere along the way that package could be intercepted.
     “A package that goes from New York to Britain could have a bomb on it that is barometrically detonated so that when the plane descends down to British airspace the bomb goes off.
     "Nobody along the way would know the package had been tampered with or traded out.
     “You don't know what's in the box."
     In a statement FedEx said:
     “The company has worked co-operatively and effectively with law enforcement and regulatory agencies around the world for a number of years to continuously strengthen our security program.
     "Not only does Fedex comply with all country-specific aviation security and anti-terrorist regulations in both the UK and the U.S., but our security processes and procedures meet and often exceed regulatory requirements as well.
     "The Fedex security systems consist of multiple layers of interlocking procedures and processes and contain a number of redundancies that comprise an excellent security system.
     “We do not, however, discuss specific measures for obvious reasons."