Prestwick Airport arms flights prosecution ruled out
28.11.06
The Crown Office has decided not to prosecute the company used by the US government to transport laser-guided bombs through Prestwick Airport in Scotland to Israel during this summer's crisis in Lebanon, the Herald newspaper reports. The state-of-the-art weapons were believed to be en route to be used as bunker-busters by Israeli generals to destroy Hizbollah hide-outs.
It was suggested that Michigan-based Kalitta Air, which regularly works for the Department of Defence Air Mobility Command, an arm of the US Air Force, broke international law because it did not have the appropriate clearance. According to papers released under the Freedom of Information Act, Prestwick Airport's freight-handling department was told only verbally about the dangerous cargo, when the operator should have had special written permission to "carry munitions of war in UK airspace".
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sent a report to the Crown Office for it to consider whether a prosecution would be appropriate. However, last night a spokesman for the Crown Office told The Herald: 'Following full and careful consideration of all the facts and circumstance in this case, Crown counsel have instructed that no proceedings are to be taken.'
The spokesman explained that it was the policy of the legal authority not to explain the reasoning behind its decisions. The CAA said: 'We have no reaction to the decision.'
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