SECURITY BREACH
Person on ‘no-fly’ list slips onto flight from Afghanistan then RELEASED into Britain as they’re ‘no longer a risk’
A MAN banned from Britain on a no-fly watchlist was able to escape here from Kabul in an evacuation flight security scare.
Officials were alerted after the traveller arrived at Birmingham airport in a British military plane - but despite concerns, he's since been released to live in the West Mids.
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Border Force and police stopped the security suspect after they appeared to dodge evacuation checks,
MPs were told yesterday that a total of five people on the no-fly watchlist — designed to block individuals considered a security threat — had tried to leave the airport in Afghanistan with UK help.
A senior Border Force official said one more was intercepted in Frankfurt.
He was blocked from continuing to the UK, though his family were allowed.
Last night, a Home Office spokesman said that after analysing the Birmingham case, the suspect “is not a person of interest” and will be free to go.
Sources said the fact the individual was identified shows the watchlist is working. And they stressed people can be flagged up for a variety of reasons.
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Earlier, Armed Forces minister James Heappey said vital security checks at Kabul airport could not be sped up because they helped block those plotting to "cause us harm" in the UK.
He also warned of possible terror attacks, saying of British troops: “They know that there is a real threat of a suicide bomber, or some other sorts of threats or attack.
“That means with one hand they have to have their finger on the trigger and on the other hand they’re holding babies.”
The "no-fly watchlist" is designed to block passengers who are considered a security threat from reaching the UK.
News of the case emerged at a briefing for MPs by ministers and officials on Monday.
NO-FLY LIST 'PINGS'
A minister said: "They have had four pings from the no-fly list in the past week.
"These are people who the UK has said pose a threat to our national security and should not be allowed to fly here, who have been spotted by the checks in Kabul."
Tim Loughton, a senior Tory member of the House Affairs select committee, said, "there are a few people who are clearly on international terrorist lists that we would not want to see in the UK.
"It's crucial therefore that Border Force working closely with the military do as exhaustive checks as they can before people get on the planes."
There are people trying to take advantage of this process to get into the UK to cause us harm.
Armed Forces minister
It came as British officials at the airport in Kabul are warning of a spike in impersonations, forged documents and forged passports.
James Heappey said evil extremists plotting to "cause us harm" were exploiting the chaos in Kabul - where troops are on high alert for an ISIS suicide bomber.
Mr Heappey told BBC Radio 4: "We would love to be able to just open the gates and let people in at an even faster flow but there are people right now trying to get on some British flights that we have identified in our checks as being on the UK's no-fly list.
"So the checks that are being done are entirely necessary, because there are people trying to take advantage of this process to get into the UK to cause us harm."
'TALIBAN PROBLEM'
The UK faces an “immediate” danger of a terror attack on the same scale as 9/11 after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan, security experts have warned.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan said: “There is the possibility of a 9/11 style spectacular, on government buildings, sports grounds, major targets.”
He added: “If they cannot get the US, the UK remains a large target.
“Freedom in Afghanistan, as we have seen with 9/11, will give them time and help to plan such an attack.”
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan boss Ahmad Masood warned: “The Taliban is not a problem for the Afghan people alone.
"Plots against democracies will be hatched here once again.”
READ MORE SUN STORIES
During the brutal years of Taliban rule in the 1990s and early 2000s, terror networks notoriously used Afghanistan as a base to plot attacks.
Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda masterminded the 9/11 attacks from the country - prompting the initial Western invasion.
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