Shoe scan

The US Transportation Security Administration is to buy 100 shoe-scanning machines to use in airports.

The machines, which find metal weapons and explosives in shoes, didn't pass muster in tests three years ago but developers of the latest generation of the machines promise better results.

Letting travellers keep their shoes on "would help checkpoints run more smoothly and allow our officers to focus on other aspects of security," TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne said.

The TSA began forcing some passengers to remove their shoes in late 2001 after Richard Reid tried to ignite explosives in his boots on a US-bound flight.

Shoe removal became mandatory in 2006 after a foiled plot to blow up US-bound planes with liquid explosives.

 

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