Airport police taking a closer look at cell phones


Airport security authorities across the world, including India, are
taking a closer look at cell phones being carried by passengers, in the
wake of the terrorist strikes in the US and the recent discovery of cell
phone guns in the West.

While the improvised guns were apparently not used in the hijacking of
American aircraft employed for attacking the World Trade Centre in New
York and Pentagon in Washington, the phone guns are changing the rules
of engagement in Europe.

Beneath the digital phone face is a .22 caliber handgun capable of
firing four rounds in succession using standard telephone keypad.

Indian airport authorities too are taking extra precaution regarding
cell phones following an Interpol warning to law enforcement agencies
all over the globe.

"We are asking the passengers to dial a number on the phone and we
listen to the ring before allowing passengers to board the aircraft,"
Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police, in charge of Indira Gandhi
International Airport, Arvind Deep told PTI.

"We find it (the discovery of cell phone guns) alarming. It means police
will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches
for his cell phone," said Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police Union.

These covert weapons were first discovered in October 2000 when the
Dutch police came upon a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam.

In another recent incident, a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting
to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe. Police say
both shipments are believed to have originated in Yugoslavia.

In the United States, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms and the US Customs Service say they have been briefed on the
new weapons and all US ports of entry have been alerted.



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