Police quiz passenger caught with live bullets

Police are this morning continuing to question a Sudanese passenger who was found to be carrying live bullets in his pockets after flying from the United States to Britain. The 45-year-old, who has been arrested and is reportedly being held under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, was discovered to be carrying the ammunition – but not a gun – after disembarking from a Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington Dulles to London Heathrow. He was en route to Dubai at the time he was stopped. A statement from Scotland Yard said: “A quantity of suspected ammunition was found in his possession and the items are being forensically examined.” The Independent newspaper says the incident is an embarrassment for United States authorities “because they have recently questioned the level of protection offered by foreign airlines and forced several flights to have additional checks”. And Chris Yates, of the expert aviation publisher Jane’s, told the newspaper: “The US has made a rush to judgement; it hasn’t looked at best practice elsewhere and adopted that, it decided on a model based on what some in this industry believe is a flawed approach.”