As reported by the UK tabloid 'The News of the World':
On the eve of war our reporter exposes frightening loophole in airport security
WE SMUGGLE M16 MACHINE GUN ABOARD GATWICK JET
INVESTIGATION by ROB KELLAWAY
A News of the World investigator has boarded a holiday jet armed with a machine gun and a pistol to expose a terrifying hole in the security at Gatwick airport.
Our reporter, who could easily have been an al-Qaeda terrorist, was smuggled past gate guards as he hid in the back of a catering lorry which was supplying in-flight meals.
Along with the driver, who helped us because he too was amazed at security lapses, our man was able to board a 200-seater Monarch airlines plane and get into the cockpit.
And the two men acted out plans for THREE separate devastating attacks that, if real, could have led to the deaths of thousands of people.
Chilling
On this occasion the guns were only replicas—but at a time when airports should be on high alert, with Britain on the brink of war with Iraq, our investigation makes chilling reading.
The undercover mission reveals a catalogue of missing or lax security checks—from firms who supply pre-packed inflight meals to airport staff responsible for checking planes before take-off.
Our men could have:
PLACED a Semtex bomb in a meal tray.
FIRED at close range at packed planes preparing for take-off.
HELPED re-enact the atrocities of September 11, leaving guns hidden aboard the jet for accomplice hijackers. Gatwick— which handles 31 million passengers a year—is only a few minutes flight from London's skyscrapers.
The driver of our truck who goes in and out of the airport every day believes our attack plans would have worked.
He said: "I contacted you because I am so scared by the state of security here I won't let my family get on a plane."
The trail of terror began at 9pm on Thursday at a depot at Manor Royal industrial park a short drive from Gatwick where the pre-packed meals and drinks are put on 7.5 tonne trucks.
The drivers are supposed to lock a plastic security seal on the back door when loading is finished to show the contents are secure. Our driver left the seal unlocked and no one checked the truck as he drove out of the gates.
"Every day hundreds of trucks pile in and out of Gatwick to service the planes and nobody knows what is inside them," he explained.
"I load up at the factory alone. I can put anything you like in the truck."
Ten minutes after leaving the depot he picked up our armed man in a side street on the Forge Wood industrial estate close to the North Terminal.
There was easily enough room for him to get into the back next to ten airline trolleys packed with food. The driver then locked the seal. At 9.35pm they pulled up before security barriers at the Queens Gate entrance to the airport.
The driver had told our investigator: "This is a risky part of the trip. You mustn't move or make a sound or they will be into the truck in a second."
The driver was made to enter the gatehouse, pass through a metal detector and undergo a personal search before being cleared for entry.
Controls
Our gunman stayed silent as he heard the guards then quickly examine the security tabs on the outside of the tailgate. Then the engine spluttered into life and the two were through.
From Queen's Gate the truck headed for the North Terminal passing through a secure cargo and freight area.
The driver lifted the tailgate and he and our gunman were lose among the parked aircraft. The 200-seat Monarch aircraft—registration G-MONK— stood unattended at stand 144 with its cabin lights blazing.
It was one of four big jets—including a British Airways Boeing 777 and aircraft belonging to Air 2000 and charter line JMC—they could have accessed.
A passenger stairway led up to the Monarch jet's open main door.
Our men, with guns concealed under their jackets, explored the flight deck and sat in the captain's chair examining the dials and controls.
With no security guards in sight they took on-board pictures with their weapons, assembling a replica M16 machine gun which, if real, would be capable of firing 600 bullets a minute and a Colt M1911 .45 calibre pistol.
They looked for a place to hide the handgun for a terrorist passenger to retrieve later. The seat pockets seemed ideal.
Tucked behind the in-flight magazines, the gun would not be seen by cabin crew on their pre-flight visual checks.
The pistol could also have been hidden in any of the toilets which had already been serviced. By removing the waste bin our men found it possible to tape the weapon to the underside of the sink unit and replace the bin.
Then they examined the trays of food which they could have easily poisoned.
The trays are also an ideal size for a small bomb—as a pilot of 20 years experience who flies in and out of Gatwick every week explained later.
"I know the luggage on the plane has been scanned but I have no idea what is in the food containers which are loaded onto my aeroplane," said the pilot, who did not want to be named.
"It would be easy to fill a food container with plastic explosive and a thermal switch so the explosive was detonated as soon as the food is heated up after take-off."
When our "terrorists" left the plane they wandered unchallenged to a taxiing runway where, fingers on the triggers of the guns beneath their coats, they watched jets packed with tourists thunder by.
There were no guards around to stop them—making a mockery of repeated government claims that airport security has been tightened since the September 11 attacks.
In a recent House of Commons debate, Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "I would certainly assure everyone that it is safe to use our airports and that they should not be fearful of doing so, precisely because the measures have been put in place and the security has been provided to ensure that they can go about their business free from fear."
Our investigator and his accomplice drove away from the airport at 10.45pm. There was no security check on the way out.
The driver said: "We've shown what can be done. I want something done about the situation. What if I was being bribed or blackmailed by a terrorist group to hide real weapons or terrorists on the aircraft?"
Bomb
The pilot who contacted us pointed out another area that al-Qaeda could infiltrate—the inflight meal packers themselves. He said he and other airline staff were concerned that no security checks were made on them.
"The food is prepared by low paid workers, mostly immigrants and are not checked at all," he said.
"Once the cases full of food are completed and sealed they are not checked. Planting a bomb in a meal tray would be easy."