New fear terrorists are planning to bomb flight from Europe
Passengers flying to the US could face tougher security screening at airports in the UK due to White House fears that terrorists are planning to bring down a plane with the help of European jihadists returning from Syria.
The White House is considering asking the UK to step up airport security, which could include closer scrutiny of passengers travelling to the United States, in response to a new perceived threat from terror groups in Syria and Yemen.
Tighter security could mean passengers travelling to the US are forced to arrive earlier at UK airports to give time for extra security checks, which might lead to longer queues.
The US government is also considering installing more armed US air marshals on flights between the UK and the US.
President Barack Obama believes there is a real threat to the US of Europeans becoming radicalised in Syria and using their EU citizenship to travel more freely than Arab or Pakistani jihadists, said American TV news channel ABC.
"They’ve got European passports. They don’t need a visa to get into the United States," he said.
US intelligence is focused on the potential partnership between the al-Nusrah Front, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula (AQAP), its Yemeni counterpart.
While al-Nusrah has access to thousands of Westerners travelling to Syria to join the jihad, AQAP is known as al-Qaeda’s most sophisticated bomb makers.
AQAP slipped an underwear bomb onto a US-bound flight from Amsterdam on Christmas Day 2009, but it failed to detonate. US intelligence believes that a European jihadist may be paired with an advanced AQAP-made bomb and ordered to attack a passenger flight.
The decision on overall UK airport security will be taken by the Department for Transport but the US can demand additional screening on flights heading for America and US air marshals have previously been installed on transatlantic flights from the UK.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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