The new airport security measures implemented at British airports, in the wake of the Detroit-bound flight bombing bid, could include singling out Muslim travelers for extra questioning and body searches, a terrorism expert has said.
The Daily Express quoted Professor Anthony Glees, director of Buckingham University's Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, as saying that the profiling of Muslim passengers is the 'obvious and rational' response to deter Islamic terrorists striking against Western targets.
The controversial move would also reduce queues at airport security gates for other passengers, he added.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Nigerian bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, said that 'many more' terrorists with similar training were ready to launch attacks against the West.
Glees says that the prospect of a wave of attacks means ¬Muslims should be prepared for extra questioning and body searches at ¬airports as an 'inevitable consequence' of the security threat.
"Profiling passengers is the rational solution at this time. If it is the case that Abdulmutallab was carrying explosive materials, it means at the very least, exterior body searches are going to have to be ¬carried out," he said.
"I would ask Muslims everywhere to be prepared to be subject to extra searches for weeks and possibly months ahead until MI5 and the police get to the bottom of this attack. The vast majority of Muslims have nothing to do with the Al Qaeda and absolutely nothing to hide. But the fact is, nobody who has carried out these attacks has not been a Muslim," he added.
