The US Department of Homeland Security has alerted US airlines to a possible terrorist threat from explosives in shoes.

 

In the second alert this month, the DHS confirmed yesterday that its intelligence on this matter relates specifically to airlines entering US airspace from abroad.

It also comes just weeks after the US warned airlines about possible explosives being hidden in toothpaste in carry-on luggage on non-stop flights from the US to Russia.

 

 

There is still considerable sensitivity from the DHS and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on liquid explosives and both bodies still consider them to represent credible potential threats.

This is some 12 years after the so-called ‘shoe-bomber’ Richard Reid failed to set off explosives strapped to his body on a Miami-bound flight. He is now serving a life sentence after pleading guilty.

This event prompted airport security in the US – and many other countries – to require passengers to remove their shoes for inspection for several years, although this is no longer as ‘routine’ as it once it was.