Weapons smuggled on flight

Geoffrey Thomas

March 12, 2009

TWO boys have smuggled a stolen arsenal of handguns, knives and 3000 rounds of ammunition through two West Australian airports in one of the state's most serious breaches of airline security.

The boys, aged 11 and 14, packed the weapons in their checked-in luggage on a Qantas flight from Karratha to Perth on Monday night.

On arrival in Perth, they retrieved the baggage and checked in for a 10.55pm Jetstar flight to Cairns, where they were arrested after landing at 4.10am on Tuesday.

Qantas has admitted that "explosive trace detection" X-ray machines failed to pick up the ammunition.

The 14-year-old, who allegedly stole the weapons and ammunition from a shop in Karratha, has been charged and will face the Weipa Children's Court on Tuesday.

Federal police were tipped off about the theft by Karratha officers. They intercepted the boys and their luggage at Cairns airport where they were waiting to board a flight to Weipa.

Their baggage also contained a Ruger revolver, a .22-calibre pistol, 14 knives and other weapons.

The West Australian Police Minister, Rob Johnson, said: "If that is substantiated, I would certainly have some discussions with the minister and those people with responsibility for security at our airports."

A Qantas spokesman told The West Australian it was aware of the incident but there was "absolutely no flight security threat".

Because one of the boys was aged under 13, Qantas and Jetstar staff chaperoned the boys throughout their journey.

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