Airports should be screened for nerve agent warns expert

AIRPORTS and other areas through which the nerve agent used on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia could have been transported must be examined amid fears for public health, a security expert has said.

Philip Ingram, a former intelligence and security officer with knowledge of chemical weapons, said that there was still a “clear and present danger”, adding: “We must not fall into the trap of thinking the casualties are in the hospital, a few Russian spies are being ejected and the Royals are missing the World Cup, job done. The job is far from done and the threat remains.”

He said that Novichok was difficult to detect with the police unable to reassure the public that they knew how it was brought into Britain. If it arrived through Heathrow, he said, the airport should be examined for traces.