Laptop ban on UK flights is 'due to Isis threat'

A ban on electronic goods being brought into the cabin on certain flights to the UK is due to the threat posed by Islamic State, it has been reported.

Downing Street announced the clampdown amid fears IS terrorists are developing new weapons which can be hidden in electronic devices, US media said.

The restriction applies to certain electronic devices on certain flights from Middle Eastern countries, and follows a similar move by the US.

It will apply to inbound direct flights from six countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

ABC reported the new security measures follow intelligence obtained earlier this year indicating IS was working on ways to smuggle explosives on to planes by hiding them in electronics.

The US government has reportedly deemed the threat “substantiated” and “credible”.

In February last year an explosive device concealed in a laptop was used to bomb an airliner after it took off from Mogadishu airport in Somalia, east Africa. All passengers survived but the bomber died.

The ban means passengers will not be able to bring laptops, tablets, and other portable devices into the cabin.

Standard size mobile phones will still be allowed but devices longer than 16cm, wider than 9.3cm wide and 1.5cm in depth will need to be checked in.

Medical devices are also not affected.

Devices larger than a mobile phone have already been banned from cabins for US-bound flights from eight Muslim-majority countries.

Inbound flights on nine airlines operating out of 10 airports in eight countries are subject to the US Department of Homeland Security ban.

The US restrictions apply to airlines flying direct to the United States from airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Morocco and Qatar.

The airports affected by the US ban are in Amman; Cairo; Kuwait City; Doha; Dubai; Istanbul; Abu Dhabi; Casablanca in Morocco; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.