Germany has freight security plan for EU: report
Air freight
(BERLIN) - Germany's interior minister will present an emergency security plan for air-freight traffic to his EU partners Monday, German media reported here.
"National measures are not very effective," Thomas de Maiziere told the Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag.
"That's why, at my request, the interior ministers are going to discuss this question in Brussels on Monday. I am going to present a plan," he added.
"There is every reason to take seriously (pending) attacks in Europe and the United States," even if there was no concrete lead, he told the paper.
De Maiziere told ZDF television that they had to learn the lessons of the recent security alert.
Last week, two parcel bombs sent from Yemen addressed to synagogues in Chicago were discovered, one in England and the other in the United Arab Emirates.
The package finally intercepted at East Midlands airport in England had travelled through Cologne airport and according to British Prime Minister David Cameron had been designed to blow up in mid-air.
De Maiziere's proposals included systematic checks on lists of freight so as to zoom in on suspicious data; an evaluation of security in airports outside the European Union; and better monitoring of freight sent from countries judged to be unsafe.
Der Spiegel news magazine, due out on Monday, reported that Germany also wants to set up a black list of airports considered to be a high risk, with special checks on freight coming from these places.