Posted on 10/08/2016 10:12:33 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
EXCLUSIVE: A BAGGAGE handler at a British airport has been found with an ISIS flag stitched to the inside of their glove, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK.
The discovery raises the alarming prospect that staff at British airports could be operating as part of a jihadi sleeper cell.
A senior security source confirmed to Express.co.uk the discovery of the glove was "not the only case" and that other radicalised airport workers had been identified at more British airports.
The UK airport where the baggage handler worked has not been revealed but Britain's biggest airport, Heathrow, has said it is not aware of any such incident at the west London hub.
Concerns about radicalised airport staff first came to light in France in the wake of the Paris attacks, when it emerged as many as 70 members of staff with airside clearance were stripped of their passes.
At Brussels airport, which was hit by a terror attack in March, security services said at least 50 ISIS supporters were working as baggage handlers, cleaners and catering staff.
Police at the Belgian airport said the workers were in possession of security badges and even had access to the cockpit of parked aircraft.
And in August this year 300 airport staff at Heathrow had their passes suspended in a major security crackdown.
Cleaners and caterers were caught up in the probe which employer Sodexo said was a precautionary measure and there were no known terrorist links.
It followed news that police were investigating a scam involving airside security passes at Heathrow.
Philip Baum, a leading aviation security expert, said there were numerous examples of people working airside in the UK who had made expressions of sympathy for ISIS.
He said: "You only need one bad egg - and given the tens of thousands of people who work in the aviation industry, and in some airports it's tens of thousands in one airport, it is a huge challenge. "
But he added: "It is not all going to be about using screening technology.
"Ultimately we need to apply common sense, we need to evaluate people, that is going to be the most useful technique that can be applied, whether you are looking at passengers or airport employees.
"Airports are making a constant effort in the UK to monitor their staff and people are being encouraged to report suspicious postings that their colleagues might make on social media.
"We need to recognise that in all areas of operations we have to be aware of the airside threat and it is a threat that might be due to psychological problems, such as Andreas Lubitz [who crashed a Germanwings plane into a mountainside].
"Or it might be a threat due to the nature of the industry, it is a global workforce now, or due to people's political ideologies."
Airport staff in the UK are routinely screened in a similar way to passengers but background checks are only carried out when someone is first employed at the airport.
It means there is the potential for workers who become radicalised to be missed if their actions only become sinister once they have cleared their initial criminal record check.
Airport staff in the US are not routinely screened and Mr Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, said this had to change.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, he said: "Considering the US considers itself the global policeman of aviation, from my perspective it has got significant problems with its own system and doesn't meet global standards in many areas."
Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, said: "People are consistently worried about aviation security and groups likely to exploit it.
"Having said that, we haven't had a successful attack in UK against an airport yet."
You know, it’s funny, but I never in my life saw an airport worker wearing a hijab until after 9-11. It’s as if the politicians saw the muslims crash into the World Trade Center and said, “Dang, we need more of those folks around our aircraft.”
I recommend Mark Twain’s THE FRENCH AND THE COMANCHES ... with a new perspective.
You know, it’s funny, but I never in my life saw an airport worker wearing a hijab until after 9-11. It’s as if the politicians saw the muslims crash into the World Trade Center and said, “Dang, we need more of those folks around our aircraft.”
Absolutely true. The Marxist Left, in alliance with radical Jihadists wanting to scare the West into submitting to a Caliphate, managed through ceaseless propaganda sound bites, to give the American public a guilt trip, instead of doing the healthy thing, which would have been blocking any more Muslim immigrants until it could be figured out what is going on with them. And low and behold, Donald Trump now says the very same thing - which is why those conspirators are so afraid he will become president.
Please post that on Twitter.
How about hiring middle aged white married heterosexual born-again Christians, Russian Orthodox, and pre-Vatican II Roman Catholics?
That ought to be cause for summary execution.
Back when England was sane, that would’ve been carried out.
Multiculturalism is king so that the elites may hold onto power.
Isn’t there a law against Muslims working at airports?
Those are the only people who should be TSA or even SIDA cleared.
The current situation is like having SS run security at Ben Gurion.
Islam is a war plan.
Yes, as recently as the 1940s.
Well, who are we to judge?
You're right on the money in your comment! (I don't live in Seattle. But it's the first place I was astounded to see how MANY there are and how quickly after 9/11.) It's also not representative of our society. The percentage is so very high there in the airport versus what you see on the streets in any US city. It's bizarre.
I have travelled throughout the Muslim world for work. Before 9/11 they handed me hopes of the Koran all the time as souvenirs. Now they pretend like an infidel cannot touch such a holy artifact. Before, they never cared if I ate bacon or drank alcohol, as long as they had other options for themselves. Now, they pretend as if I cannot do those things in their proximity. And more.
WE HAVE TAUGHT THEM THAT THEY CAN TELL US WHAT TO DO.
It’s sick and stupid.
Ha! Well put!!
So, just asking, has Trump said anything about thie?
Whatever happened in that Paris-to-Egypt investigation?
there is a whole group of them at DFW..
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