Nigeria Beefs Up Airline Security in the wake of the Christmas Day Bombing Attempt

Nigerian Airports have beefed up their Airline Security with the purchase and installation of four additional OD Security through-body SOTER RS Security Body Scanners.

The four SOTER through-body low dose X-Ray scanners were originally purchased by the United States Government in 2009 and donated to Nigeria to help combat the drugs trade. Now in the wake of the abortive Christmas day attempt by Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a US bound aircraft, the SOTER scanners are in the front line in fighting international terrorism.

Unlike the millimetre wave and backscatter scanners being widely deployed elsewhere, the SOTER provides a through-body X-Ray image that can detect any objects hidden in or on the human body within just 10 seconds, negating the need for intrusive strip searches.

In combination with passenger profiling, low dose x-ray scanning offers a much more effective, cheaper and less disruptive security procedure than mass screening and relying on the inferior image quality of microwave and backscatter scanners.

The Soter will detect any metallic or non-metallic objects such as narcotics, explosives, precious stones, plastic weapons or other contraband; hidden under clothes or in natural cavities within the human body.

Other than the conventional intrusive strip searches there is no other way of detecting these items carried internally.

Nigerian Airport staff has now completed an in-depth training programme at the OD Security training centre in The Netherlands and the SOTER's are now fully operational.

The SOTER RS Security Body Scanners are being used at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja International Airports.

The SOTER is currently operational in Australia, Ghana, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.