Security checks have been beefed up after “credible” intelligence that al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on airlines flying out of London. One staff member said: “There are genuine fears over this.
“We have been told to pay particular attention to females who may have concealed hidden explosives in their breasts. “This is particularly difficult for us to pick up but we are on a very high state of alert.
“It’s led to long queues here at Heathrow – much longer than usual at this time of the year. “But because it’s the summer holiday season, no one has complained.”
Al-Qaeda’s chief bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri is understood to have developed the method of foiling airport scanners by concealing explosives in an implant or bodily cavity.
It is also feared there is no shortage of volunteers willing to take part in an atrocity after hundreds of extremists recently escaped from prison in Pakistan.
Explosives expert Andy Oppenheimer said: “There is a great fear that al-Qaeda are planning on using internal devices to try and get through airport scanners.
“These explosives could be in breast implants.” Another specialist, who asked not to be named, said breast implant bombs could be set off by injecting another liquid.
The expert added: “Both are very difficult to pick up with current technology and they are petrified al-Qaeda are a step ahead here.
“It’s pretty top secret and potentially very grisly and ghastly.”
Independent security analyst Paul Beaver said: “There are currently deeply serious concerns over body cavities and implants of all kinds – including breast implants – being used to hide explosives.