Screening curbs for parcel firm UPS (From thisisoxfordshire)

Screening curbs for parcel firm UPS

12:46pm Friday 17th June 2011 in National News © Press Association 2011

Parcel company UPS has been restricted in the number of sites at which it is permitted to screen air cargo until it has "satisfied current security requirements", the Department for Transport has said.

The department gave no further details of its decision, adding that the safety of the travelling public is "paramount and our security regime is kept under constant review".

New security measures affecting the transfer of cargo through the UK came into force at the beginning of November 2010 following the discovery of explosives at East Midlands Airport and in Dubai.

The DfT said: "The safety of the travelling public is paramount and our security regime is kept under constant review.

"We can confirm that, following careful consideration, the department has restricted the number of sites in the UK at which UPS Ltd are permitted to screen air cargo until it has satisfied current security requirements. For obvious security reasons we will not comment on the details."

The bomb at East Midlands Airport last year was removed from a UPS aircraft by Leicestershire Police officers shortly after 3.30am on October 29 after a tip-off from Saudi intelligence.

It had travelled through a UPS hub at Germany's Cologne Airport before being detected in the UK after the tip-off. It later emerged that the explosives discovered at East Midlands and in Dubai were at least 50 times more potent than would be needed to blow a hole in an aircraft fuselage.

After last year's incidents, Home Secretary Theresa May said the East Midlands and Dubai bombs originated in Yemen and were believed to be the work of al Qaida.

She announced that all flights containing unaccompanied freight from Somalia would be suspended. Unaccompanied air freight from Yemen had already been suspended earlier last year.

The East Midlands device was in a printer cartridge. Following the discovery, ink cartridges more than 500g were banned from banned from hand baggage on flights departing from the UK and also on cargo flights unless they originated from a regular shipper with security arrangements approved by the DfT.