Entered into the database on Friday, December 09th, 2005 @ 10:11:41 MST
A watchlist of possible terror suspects distributed by the US government
to airlines for pre-flight checks is now 80,000 names long, a Swedish newspaper
reported, citing European air industry sources. The classified list, which carried just 16 names before the September 11, 2001
attacks in New York and Washington had grown to 1,000 by the end of 2001, to
40,000 a year later and now stands at 80,000, Svenska Dagbladet reported. Airlines must check each passenger flying to a US destination against the list,
and contact the US Department of Homeland Security for further investigation
if there is a matching name. The list contains a strict "no fly" section, which requires airline
staff to contact police, and a "selectee" section, which requires
passengers to undergo further security checks. Some 2,000 passengers checking in at Stockholm's Arlanda airport have had to
be cleared with the US authorities because of name matches on the "selectee"
list this year, although none was prevented from boarding, Svenska Dagbladet
said.
