US arms flights 'were illegal'
08.10.06
The US Government flouted British and international law to fly bunker-busting bombs through UK airports to bolster Israeli raids on Lebanon, the Herrald newspaper reports. Washington failed to tell Britain it was flying the weapons in and out of Prestwick Airport in Scotland - potentially putting lives at the airport at risk.
The Crown Office in Scotland is considering prosecutions over two flights carrying consignments of laser-guided bombs which landed at Prestwick in July. At the time, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett complained to the US after learning it was secretly using Britain as a staging-post to resupply the Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds which killed hundreds of civilians.
It has now emerged that moving the weapons through Britain was a breach of international aviation laws. Scottish authorities will decide whether to mount a legal case that could lead to heavy fines and a possible ban on the airline involved landing in Britain.
The two Boeing 747s, owned by US freight airline Kalitta Air, landed at Prestwick Airport on July 21 and 23 from San Antonio, Texas. They were refuelled and the crew changed before they flew on to Tel Aviv. Kalitta Air regularly works for the US Air Mobility Command - part of the US Air Force - to ship munitions for operations around the world.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that an investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed that the aircraft missions did not have appropriate clearance. According to the papers, Prestwick airport's freight-handling department was 'advised verbally that there was a small amount of dangerous cargo (ie explosives) on board'. In fact, the operator required special permission to 'carry munitions of war in UK airspace'.
It has also emerged that Crown prosecutors in Ayrshire, which covers Prestwick airport, have been in talks with the CAA about a prosecution. A spokesman for the Crown Office in Scotland told the newspaper: 'We have received a report from the CAA which is being considered by the procurator fiscal's office in Ayrshire.'
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