London: Thousands of foreigners are working in high security areas of Britain's airports without passing proper criminal record checks, media reports said today.

Despite warnings that terrorists would try to recruit people with direct access to aircraft and baggage no attempt has been made to check whether foreign workers have committed any offences abroad, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Currently, the vetting process checks only for crimes committed in Britain.

Foreign workers, arriving from inside or outside the European Union, are not checked in their country of origin. This means that someone with a conviction for firearms or explosives offences committed abroad could, for example, take a job loading bags on to aircraft at Heathrow, Gatwick or any other airport, provided they had committed no crimes in the UK, the report said.

There are reported to be an estimated 200,000 staff with direct access to baggage and aircraft.

The BBC disclosed last night that officials checked only British criminal records and that no attempt had been made to find out about any crimes in their home countries.

Experts said that meant thousands of foreign workers were not vetted properly.

The government said that it did not want to carry out foreign criminal record checks because it would take too long and involve complicated comparisons between legal systems in different countries.

Source : PTI