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Folds in clothes confuse full-body scanners, German police find

Nov 16, 2010, 12:54 GMT

Hamburg - Wrinkles in clothing are fooling US-made full-body scanners currently being tested at Hamburg Airport, German border police revealed Tuesday.

The controversial device, which uses radio waves to detect concealed objects, was dubbed the 'nudifier' in the German media.

The latest model of the ProVision ATD does not show a nude image of the traveller's body but simply a warning to guards to hand-search a person who has unexplained bumps.

NDR radio said the devices, introduced in September, had repeatedly given warnings about innocent passengers, mainly because of folds in clothes. It quoted guards saying the devices were unreliable in scanning through many layers of clothing too.

Asked for comment, police spokeswoman Sandra Pfeifer said, 'The scanners at Hamburg Airport are a prototype. Teething troubles can't be ruled out and having to check people a second time has not surprised us.'

She said the tests would continue till March. Hamburg is the sole airport using the devices. They are also deployed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

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