US to ban lighters on flights

Last updated at 14:26 03 March 2005


Lighters are to be banned on all flights from the United States amid fears they could be used to ignite bombs, it emerged today.

The ban was motivated by the case of convicted British "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid.

Proponents warned that if he had tried to ignite

his explosives with a lighter rather than matches, his bomb would probably have been set off, killing hundreds of people on a flight from Europe to the US in 2001.

Reid was jailed for life in the US in 2003.

Fellow Briton Saajid Badat, 25, admitted conspiring to blow up an aircraft at the Old Bailey yesterday.

He had an identical device to the one used by Reid and intelligence services believe the two had been conspiring together.

Badat changed his mind and dismantled his device, which was specially designed to evade airport security.

The US Transportation Security Administration said the ban was not an attack on smokers but a "serious security measure".

The law will take force from April 14. Passengers will still be allowed to carry up to four books of matches although that too is being re-evaluated.

Lighters will also be banned from checked-in luggage.

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