Nigerians Join Dutch in Using Full-Body Scans

Officials vow that nation won't be transit point for terrorists
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2009 5:44 AM CST
Nigerians Join Dutch in Using Full-Body Scans
Murtala Mohammed airport is seen from a bridge in Lagos, Nigeria.   (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigeria has joined the Netherlands in announcing plans to introduce full-body scans for air travelers. Officials plan to install the high-tech machines at the country's four major airports beginning next month. Detroit suspect Umar Faroul Abdulmutallab began his journey in Lagos, and experts say full-body scanning would have detected his "underwear bomb."

“I can understand about privacy, but you must have your life first before you talk about privacy," the chief of Nigeria's civil aviation authority tells Voice of America. "If you are dead, even dogs will look at you and walk across you. So it’s important that you have to be alive, and to be alive, we must stop these terrorists before they kill us." (More Nigeria stories.)

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