CHERUB: The Sleepwalker - Robert Muchamore Page 0,89
sticker so that they can’t accidentally be reinstalled. They’re then supposed to be taken away and destroyed, but this lot clearly haven’t been.’
Jake finished the story. ‘So Hassam and Asif buy the parts from someone inside the maintenance hanger, or from a local scrap yard. Then they clean off the paint and the stickers, give them a spruce-up and they end up doing another ten-year stint inside another aircraft on the opposite side of the world.’
‘Got it,’ Mac said. ‘Although this haul only indicates that Hassam and Asif were using their container business to move the illegal parts. They could just be part of a much larger smuggling operation.’
Lauren nodded. ‘That would explain why we couldn’t find any evidence in the accounts.’
‘That’s right,’ Mac said, realising that he hadn’t thought of this. ‘It would just show up as a container of goods being shipped on behalf of one of BHDM’s customers and if it was a routine shipment there’d be no particular reason for Hassam and Asif to have discussed it – which is why a week of surveillance picked nothing up.’
‘So you reckon ancient parts like these were fitted to the plane that crashed when it was overhauled?’ Jake said. ‘And these bits of junk are actually worth enough money to make all this worthwhile?’
‘I’d guess they’re worth a few hundred pounds each,’ Mac said. ‘Maybe even thousands to the right buyer once they’ve had a clean and the serial number’s been doctored. Aerospace companies sell their planes for less than it costs to build them, but once a plane is delivered they’re guaranteed thirty years of revenue selling spare parts. You can’t just set yourself up making widgets for a four-hundred-seat jet in some back alley. Airlines have to buy components from the original manufacturer and they can set prices sky high.’
‘So who’s behind it?’ Rat asked. ‘I mean, is it the airlines wanting cheaper parts, or the owner of the maintenance hangar?’
Mac shrugged. ‘It’s too early to say. This is a breakthrough but it’s only the first step in a major investigation.’
Rat looked at the rows of boxes in the bag, then pointed up at the sky. ‘So how many planes are up there right now, relying on bits of scrap metal to keep flying?’
36. SENSATION
AIRPORT GRIDLOCK!
• CHAOS WORSENS AS HALF-TERM FAMILIES MAROONED
• 185 PLANES NOW GROUNDED WORLDWIDE; MORE EXPECTED
Airports worldwide are facing a second day of chaos as America’s Federal Aviation Administration grounded another sixty-five airliners suspected of being fitted with dangerously worn-out parts.
In a further shocking revelation, arrests made in Dubai and India over the weekend have led investigators to believe that British-based brothers Hassam and Asif Bin Hassam were just a small part of a global network trading in uncertified and fake aircraft components.
At Heathrow more than five thousand passengers faced cancelled flights this morning. Airlines have warned that the huge number of grounded aircraft means it could be months before all of them are inspected and suspect parts replaced.
Long-distance rail routes across Europe are fully booked, while an estimated five thousand Brits are stranded in the United States and other long-haul destinations. Some face waits of up to a week for a flight home.
While some airlines with younger aircraft fleets are unaffected, most major airlines have cancelled some flights. Anglo-Irish has been worst affected. Its entire fleet underwent maintenance and cabin upgrades at the DNM works near Madras over the last two years and only one of its eighteen jets remains in service – a plane leased to replace the airliner that crashed over the Atlantic on 9 September.
Anglo-Irish shares plunged by more than seventy per cent on the London Stock Exchange and were suspended within ten minutes of trade opening. Industry experts say that Anglo-Irish is unlikely to survive the massive disruption to its services. The airline’s collapse would result in the loss of over eight hundred jobs. Other airline shares also fell steeply.
While authorities in the EU, North America and most of Asia have grounded suspect planes with immediate effect, controversy surrounds more sluggish action in developing nations and the former Soviet Union, where it is thought that dozens of potentially dangerous airliners are still flying.
London News – Tuesday 9 October 2007
Lauren, Bethany and Rat all had just-washed hair and red faces as they headed outside after an exhausting combat session in the dojo. There was a twenty-minute break before third period and they were heading for a