Undercover Reporter's Bomb Scare Probe

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Tuesday August 24
Undercover Reporter's Bomb Scare Probe

Officials have launched an investigation after an undercover reporter smuggled fake bomb-making equipment on board a holiday jet.The probe was ordered after the journalist posed as a baggage handler at Birmingham International Airport and took fake explosive equipment on to plane carrying 220 holidaymakers.According to the Sun, reporter Anthony France, 31, was employed by private contractor Aviance despite giving bogus references and bank details.

Details of his work as a journalist in other undercover investigations were available on the internet. The paper said France hid the bomb components in his boots during the undercover operation on August 17. Although they set off the metal detector, he was apparently waved through after telling staff steel toecaps had activated the alarm.

After assembling the explosives in one of the aircraft's toilets, France was joined four other baggage handlers in loading a Thomas Cook flight bound for Mallorca. The Sun said the 200g makeshift device was half the size of the Lockerbie bomb. Writing in the newspaper, France said: "Had I been one of Osama Bin Laden's terrorists, I could have wiped out more than 220 British passengers...and thousands more on the ground below."

A spokesman for the Department of Transport, which is responsible for regulating airport security, said: "The Government views any failings in security procedures seriously." A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said an investigation would be launched and meetings had already been arranged with the airport and Aviance.

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