WESTERN BUREAU:

As of Boxing Day, random checks at the boarding gates of airlines ceased to exist, as all travellers en route to the United States became subject to 100 per cent body searches at the island's two international airports.

Adhering to a directive from the United States' Transportation Security Administration, director general of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby, said the screening procedure at the airports has changed and will affect all flights going into the United States for now. In time, the changes may affect European and other carriers.

The new rules will see passengers experiencing body patting by security personnel, and the screening of carry-on bags at the boarding gates, said the JCAA head.

"Liquid and gels must be placed in clear plastic bags to be shown to screeners, while matches and lighters will be included in the restrictions," he said. Previous restrictions on matches and lighters had been loosened, but will now be reinstated.

Three hours ahead

According to Derby, persons should be going to the airport three hours ahead of their flight times, as the airlines might board a little earlier than scheduled.

He noted that on Saturday when the new procedures were introduced on the first Air Jamaica flight out of the Norman Manley International Airport, everything went smoothly.

Derby said the decision was spurred by an attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack aboard a Northwest Airlines flight which led to a 23-year-old Nigerian-born man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, being arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for trying to blow up the aircraft while it was preparing to land in Detroit.

According to The Associated Press (AP), Abdulmutallab had a device containing PETN, or pentaerythritol, hidden in a condom or condom-like bag just below his torso.

PETN is the same material convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid used when he tried to destroy a transatlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes. Abdulmutallab also had a syringe filled with liquid.

Feigned illness

The AP report stated that as the plane approached Detroit, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for 20 minutes. When he returned to his seat, he complained of an upset stomach and covered himself with a blanket.

Passengers heard a popping noise, similar to a firecracker. They smelled an odour, and some passengers saw Abdulmutallab's pant leg and the wall of the aeroplane on fire. Passengers and the flight crew used blankets and fire extinguishers to quell the flames. They restrained Abdulmutallab, who later told a flight attendant he had an "explosive device" in his pocket. He was seen holding a partially melted syringe.

The aeroplane landed in Detroit shortly after the incident.

On Saturday, federal officials charged the young man with trying to destroy the aeroplane. A conviction on the charge could bring Abdulmutallab up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com