"Tabloid Reporter Held After Airport Gun Stunt"

Monday, March 17, 2003

Tabloid Reporter Held After Airport Gun Stunt


LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Monday they arrested three men
after a tabloid reporter's airport stunt with an imitation machinegun
backfired.

News of the World reporter Robert Kellaway successfully smuggled a replica
M-16 machinegun onto an airliner in the kind of exploit that has become a
staple for Britain's tabloids since the September 11 attacks on America.

But after he published details of his investigation into airline security at
Gatwick airport earlier this month, police arrested three men, one of whom
media sources identified as Kellaway.

"All three were arrested for conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm with
intent to commit an indictable offence," said a police spokeswoman.

Kellaway hid in the back of a truck supplying in-flight meals to board a
200-seater Monarch Airlines plane, where he was photographed brandishing the
gun along with a replica pistol.

According to the News of the World article, the truck driver had cooperated
with the investigation because he wanted to highlight security lapses. He
too is said to have been arrested.

Police said that of the three men arrested last week, one had been released
without charge and two others had been bailed pending further inquiries.

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