WASHINGTON (AFP) — US airport inspectors are honing in on remote-controlled toys in passengers' luggage after warnings by the country's Homeland Security department, the Transportation Security Administration said.
In an announcement Monday, Kip Hawley, the assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security in charge of aviation security, said travellers can expect to see more scrutiny of toys as they pass through inspection gates at airports.
"While not associated with a specific threat at this time, TSA is aware that remote control toys can be used to initiate devices used in terrorist attacks," the department said.
"We work very closely with law enforcement and intelligence communities about possible methods of attack and it appears that terrorists may have been interested to use these remote controlled toys as a means to initiate devices used in a terrorist attack," Hawley said in comments posted on the TSA website.
Remote controls like those used in toys have been employed in the "improvised explosive devices" used with deadly effect against US soldiers in Iraq.
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