17. 11. 10. - 16:00

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17. 11. 10. - 16:00

Airport Scanners crease up Security Staff

Anti-terrorist body scanners can be fooled by creases in clothing like pleats, new trials have revealed in Hamburg, Germany.

The scanners - which produce a full body image of passengers - are unable to tell the different between a fold in shirts or sweaters and a knife or hidden objects, claim reports by German broadcaster NDR.

Trial machines using millimetre-wave technology to produce outline images of bodies have caused chaos with passengers who fail the scans.

Similar security equipment is in use in British airports and all around the world.

But security staff in Hamburg say lightweight clothes like blouses and T-shirts constantly trigger alarms because creases are mistaken for weapons.

"It means everyone has to go through a metal detector and a manual search as well, whether they pass the scanner or not," said one security worker.

German Herald

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