UK airports on alert over dummy bomb warnings

London, Dec 18 (ANI): UK counter-terrorism officials have said that terror scouts are testing airport security amid fears that regional airports have been targeted for dummy bomb runs.

According to the Guardian, counter-terrorist sources added that authorities are on the look-out for potential bomb plots ahead of Christmas, including the possibility of plotters placing dummy bombs to check security procedures.

They also said that official bodies might also use dummy bombs to see whether their procedures "pass the test".

X-ray scans of two suspect packages at a regional airport have been noticed in the last three months that show items officials fear have a similar profile to improvised explosive devices.

One package, concealed in a box inside a passenger's carry-on luggage, consisted of a BlackBerry attached to a bottle of baby "gripewater" with a charging cable that appeared like a deto9nator to officials. The second one was discovered a week later in the hand baggage containing a mobile phone and a liquid bottle.

Among counter-terrorism officials there is a belief that the security of airports is "periodically being tested".

"Periodically they [suspected terrorists] are seeing how the system works, that the security systems are being tested," the paper quoted a security source, as saying.

Officials are concerned about a range of threats to the UK including a Mumbai-style attack, as well as the continuing danger of explosives being secreted on passenger planes like the 'exposed' Yemen ink cartridge bomb plot. (ANI)