LOS ANGELES - A man was arrested yesterday for trying to take an inoperative hand grenade on to a flight at Los Angeles International Airport - triggering a huge hunt for explosives and forcing the evacuation of two terminals packed with hundreds of travellers.
The terminals were evacuated at the peak of the morning rush as bomb-sniffing dogs and police swept through the area in what was the third such evacuation in the last month at Los Angeles Airport, one of the nation's largest and busiest airports.
An unidentified male passenger was arrested and taken into custody when the inert grenade in his carry-on luggage was detected by a bomb screening machine.
"It defies belief that someone would pack a hand grenade," said Mayor James Hahn. "This is incomprehensible. It causes tremendous apprehension to the travelling public."
The identity of the passenger was not released and it was not clear which flight he had been intending to board.
The grenade was detected by a newly acquired bomb screening device near an area used by Alaska Airlines, an airport spokeswoman said.
The Bush Administration took a critical step yesterday in its overhaul of United States aviation security, launching a recruitment drive for more than 30,000 passenger and baggage screeners.
The Transportation Department signed a US$103 million ($242 million) contract with NCS Pearson, a data management firm and a unit of British-based Pearson, to provide a web-based system for recruitment, evaluation and placement of screener applicants.
Separately, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the agency had broadened the scope of potential manufacturers and technologies to satisfy the congressional demand that all airports be equipped with machines to scan every piece of checked baggage for bombs by December.
Senior transport planners are %faced with an avalanche of ques%tions that need to be answered quickly about checked baggage screening, including installation deadlines, cost concerns and manufacturing capabilities, as well as whether approved technology will become obsolete too soon or whether mass production and distribution will be practical.
The agency is exploring options to bulky automated explosives detection machines now available and approved by the Government that cost US$1 million ($2.3 million) each to manufacture and up to US$1 million to install.
In other developments yesterday:
* Blood drawn from all 300 al Qaeda and Taleban prisoners during routine checks as they arrived at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be used to create a DNA database to track them.
The New York Times reported that the US Justice Department was reviewing an FBI proposal to create a DNA databank to store genetic profiles of the prisoners, who were captured in Afghanistan.
The newspaper quoted US officials as saying the genetic information could be used to help identify the captives, many of whom have given several names, and could be used also to determine if any were linked to crimes, such as an alleged shoebomb attempt aboard a Miami-bound plane.
* The alleged shoe-bomber, Briton Richard Reid, accused of trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight late last year using explosives hidden in his shoes, could face a life sentence if convicted following his trial, scheduled to start in November.
Federal Judge William Young told lawyers they must file motions within 90 days and advised them to prepare for a pretrial conference on June 3.
The Government is expected to present approximately three weeks of testimony and evidence.
* US allies in the war on terrorism, including Pakistan and Uzbekistan, engaged in rights abuses last year, as did Russia and China, says the State Department's annual human rights report.
Among the countries receiving the harshest judgments in the report were Iraq, Iran and North Korea - all designated by President George W. Bush as "axis of evil" countries.
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Passenger with grenade evacuates huge LA airport
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