How did two WWI artillery shells get through Heathrow?
Schoolboys and their souvenirs only stopped when they got to US
A COUPLE of schoolboys sparked a bomb scare after smuggling First World War artillery shells on a flight from London to Chicago as a souvenir from their school trip.
Airport security chiefs at Heathrow were criticised yesterday after it emerged that the munitions hidden in two suitcases were allowed through scanners.
The two shells were only flagged up when the United Airlines flight l anded in Chicago, where the group of American
‘Security breach is a cause for concern’
schoolchildren stopped enroute to Seattle. Security workers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport spotted the shells as they scanned luggage and it led to a major security alert.
Bomb disposal crews from Chicago Police and the FBI rushed to the airport at 3.40pm on Monday to examine the shells, which could have caused a huge explosion if found to be live.
After evacuating the baggage room, explosives experts declared the shells inert and therefore harmless. Despite the fact that United Airlines bans even inert munitions from being carried on its flights, Heathrow allowed the shells through. Yesterday, a spokesman for the airport claimed its scanners are so sophisticated they have been able to tell the shells posed no risk. In Chicago, police held the two boys aged 16 and 17 for questioning before releasing them without charge. They insisted they just wanted to keep a souvenir of their European school trip. The classmates, thought to be from a school in Seattle, told officers that they took the shells from an artillery range next to a museum that collects war memorabilia in France. It is not known how they then transported the shells from France to Britain before they boarded at Heathrow. Experts confirmed the shells were French and date back to the First World War.
The teenagers, who had each stashed a shell in their check-in suitcases, were later released and allowed to travel home to Seattle… but minus the shells.
Yesterday, Jim McKinney, from the US Transportation Security Administration in Chicago said: ‘The kids were keeping them as souvenirs. They were held for a brief time before being released.’
Aviation expert Chris Yates said last night: ‘This security breach is a cause for concern. Those who are responsible for the security process should be taken to task. These munitions, even though they were found to be inert, should have been taken off and destroyed.’
A spokesman for Heathrow said: ‘Safety is of paramount importance to Heathrow. We have the world’s most advanced airport scanning equipment. It is designed to pick up actual threats such as explosive material, whereas these were inert items that posed no threat.’
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that a London museum had to be evacuated amid fears of a similar Second World War shell exploding.
The shell had been on display at Chertsey Museum before workers realised it was dangerous and removed it.