Thursday, February 11, 2010

UK disputes Shah Rukh's claim on body scanners

Press Trust of India, Thursday February 11, 2010, London

Britain's airport officials have disputed the claim by Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan on a popular television show last week that his naked image taken from body scanners at the Heathrow airport were printed and circulated by staff. Khan claimed on the BBC prime time 'Friday Night with Jonathan Ross' show that female security staff at the airport had printed his naked image from the newly-installed body scanner and that he had autographed them.

However, the British Airports Authority (BAA) said the claim was 'completely factually incorrect' because the body-scanning equipment had no capability to print images. Also, the images captured by the equipment could not be stored or distributed in any form, a BAA spokeswoman said. Speaking on the widely-watched show, Khan said, "I'm always stopped by the security, because of the name. And I think its okay: the western world is a little bit worried, paranoid and touchy, I guess, and freely when they're frisking you".

Khan, who was on a visit here to promote his new film ,'My Name Is Khan', added, "I was in London recently going through the airport and these new machines have come up, the body scans. You've got to see them. It makes you embarrassed if you're not well endowed".

"You walk into the machine and everything, the whole outline of your body comes out. I was a little scared. Something happens [inside the scans], and I came out. Then I saw these girls they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them".

The BAA spokeswoman said the scanners had only been brought into use four days before the chat show was recorded and was only used for departing passengers, making it unlikely that Khan would have been put through them. She added that said there would be no investigation into Khan's claims because they "simply could not be true". The decision to install body scanners at UK airports was taken in the wake of the transatlantic Christmas Day terror attack on a plane as it neared Detroit.

Where is the British sense of humour? SRK was obviously cracking a joke.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/uk_disputes_shah_rukhs_claim_on_body_scanners.php?page=1#postcommentarea

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