Sir, I fail to see what is “controversial” about the proposal to focus airport security resources on those who fit a potential offender profile (report, Aug 15). It is an unfortunate truth that the greatest threat to our national security is a small minority of extremist Muslims, and it is therefore no more than common sense that security staff should be permitted to search people from that background more thoroughly than, say, an elderly white grandmother.

Far from causing outrage in the Muslim community, such a policy is likely to be more successful than the present one and will ensure that the world is slightly safer for all of us.

Were the police to question white, black and Asian suspects from a range of ages and religious backgrounds when searching for an offender described as white and in his thirties, most people would view this as a waste of valuable resources. Why should an airport be any different? To resort to political correctness in this context undermines attempts to promote real harmony and integration and patronises the very communities we are trying to protect.

JON PAYNE
Birmingham

Sir, In the week that Israel lost the war with Hezbollah, we lost the war on terror by surrendering our values and becoming an officially segregated country thanks to this travel crackdown.

FRODE HEGLAND
London SW6

Sir,Youths in hooded tops and “chav” attire are subject to profiling in our town centres and shopping malls by the police and security staff who monitor their movements on CCTV. The same goes for known football hooligans before, during and after matches.

Why, then, is it so difficult for Muslim groups such as the Muslim Council of Britain to accept that the reason for the profiling of individuals based on previous experience is that the vast majority of terror suspects, whether in custody or deceased due to suicide bombings, are Muslims of mainly South Asian origin, with one or two exceptions. By creating obstacles and denouncing and demonising efforts conceived to counter the threat of extremist violence, such groups are not doing the British Muslim or non-Muslim population any good.

The security services need to be able to carry out their duties unhindered by the fear of making a particular community unhappy. Otherwise we risk letting through the net a terrorist whose actions could have disastrous consequences for all of us, seriously undermining the cohesion of our communities and further fuelling mistrust of Muslims. It is better to have hurt feelings than dead bodies across the runway.

DR SHAAZ MAHBOOB
Hillingdon, Middx

Sir, Lord Berkeley (letter, Aug 15) has a rosy picture of French airport security. My 86-year-old mother-in-law travelled from a rural French aiport yesterday. She is frail and suffers from dementia. She had to remove her shoes and had the refill for her ballpoint pen confiscated. She was accompanied by my husband, who is 60, registered disabled and can bend only with great difficulty. He also had to remove his shoes. No chairs were provided. He had two boiled sweets confiscated. Both were body-searched, and my mother-in-law found the experience very distressing.

I beg the elements of the Muslim community who are resisting profiling as Islamophobic to show some understanding of the distress being caused to other vulnerable sections of the community.

JO BOOTH-DAVEY
Swindon

Sir, I regularly pass through immigration at Heathrow, and it seems to me that passenger profiling has been employed by customs for some time.

PADDY MacGREGOR
London W6

Sir, Despite the paucity of Asian IRA bombers I cannot recall being excused from security checks during decades of attacks in London.

SANDIP SARKAR
Rettendon, Essex

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