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Barton terror warning

5/12/2002

FEARS that Al-Qaeda terrorists could use Barton Airport as a secret route into Britain have been firmly denied by airport bosses.

Manager Kay Nugent this week told The Advertiser security was tight, with constant checks by Special Branch to prevent bombers sneaking in.

And, she insisted, no overseas planes were allowed to land at the Liverpool Road-based airport without prior security checks.

Her assurances came in the wake of warnings from Lord Alex Carlisle of Berriew that terrorists could choose smaller airports to enter the UK.

He argued on the Sunday TV current affairs show 'Breakfast with Frost' that smaller airports could be used to import terrorist materials into the UK.

Lord Carlisle, an independent reviewer of the Terrorism Act of 2000, published his annual review of the act last week.

Speaking to The Advertiser on Tuesday, he said: "One of the elements was the possibility that small ports and airports could be used for the importation of terrorist materials into the UK. I gave as my example Kent, which has 80 small airports."

In the light of this, he urged small airports such as Barton to step up their own security immediately.

However, Ms Nugent told The Advertiser that security was already at the top of their list of priorities. "We have, and have always had, a very good relationship with Special Branch," she said, "although we clearly cannot go into details.

"We have equally strong links with Customs and Immigration. No-one is allowed to leave their overseas destination without filing a flight plan which will be checked by one, or all three, of these bodies. Everything that lands at Barton Airport has to have proper permission and checks.

"Lord Carlisle's remarks are fair comment but we can reassure the Salford public that we do everything we can."

Local councillor Roger Jones, added: "You don't normally associate Barton Airport with terrorist activities but we must all accept in the current climate that security is of paramount importance. We must also remember that on September 11, 2001 the terrorists might have flown from leading airports but that they did their flight training at smaller ones."