- NEW YORK - Airport authorities are investigating how an Israeli
managed to fly on an El Al plane to New York last week with a pistol in
his hand luggage, without being detected at Ben-Gurion Airport or at the
airport in New York.
-
- Upon his arrival, the man called the
consulate in New York to inform it of his actions.
-
- A source at the Israeli Consulate confirmed
that the man had contacted it, but declined to elaborate.
-
- The Israeli man noticed he had unwittingly
carried a gun in his luggage when he arrived in New York over the weekend
and immediately informed Israeli officials of the security breach, an Israel
Airports Authority spokesman said yesterday.
-
- "We are carrying out an internal
inquiry," the spokesman said. "The main thing is to find out
whether it was a human failure or a technical failure. We hope to get an
answer... It's worrying us."
-
- Security at the airport, which is usually
regarded as extremely rigorous, is the responsibility of the Airports Authority
rather than individual airlines.
-
- "When he arrived at the hotel he
started to sweat when he found his personal handgun in his luggage,"
the spokesman said. "He went right away to the consulate."
-
- In an incident last Friday, a 16-year-old
South African kibbutz volunteer boarded an El Al plane in Lod for Johannesburg
carrying a magnesium flare shell in his suitcase. Just prior to takeoff,
the boy told a flight attendant he was carrying the flare. Security authorities
removed both the boy and his suitcase from the plane, and investigated
them.
-
- The boy had been given the flare by a
friend on the kibbutz. Upon arriving at the airport, he had undergone a
routine security check, said nobody had given him anything to carry with
him, and was given permission to board the plane. His suitcase was not
searched.
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- http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/01/29/News/News.42473.html
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