Bioterrorism: New threat in Civil Aviation? 

In the workshop on global threats in civil aviation, which took place in Prague on 4 – 5 June 2019, Mr. Karel Lehmert presented the possibilities of misuse of commonly available substances to produce explosive and flammable mixtures. Can bioterrorism (using natural substances such as sugar) and agroterrorism (using agricultural products such as fertilizers) really be a new threat to civil aviation?

During the practical part, the workshop participants had the opportunity to see for themselves how easy it is to prepare explosive and incendiary mixtures that could be used not only to intimidate the crew and passengers on board an aircraft to change the destination of the flight or approach other requirements. Using more of these substances could also damage the aircraft itself and catastrophic consequences.

Workshop participants agreed on the need to include this topic in security training for screeners of passengers and their luggage in order to prevent the introduction of more dangerous combinations of substances on board aircraft.