The United States just lifted an ended its controversial ban on laptops in hand luggage for passengers heading to the country from the Middle East nations or any through the Middle Eastern airlines. The reason for this was because the Department of Homeland Security just claimed that it was satisfied with the enhanced security measures it just implemented following the ban.
Previous reports claimed that the U.S. already lifted it laptop ban for three major airlines in the Middle East just earlier this month. But just yesterday, BBC reported that an official from the said department announced through Twitter that all restrictions had already been lifted for the other remaining airports and airlines.
Aside from laptops, the said ban also included large electronic devices like e-readers from hand luggage and tablets. This ban was initiated by the U.S. just last March and this immediately covered all flights going to U.S. from ten airports in the Middle East. These ten airports included the so-called major travel hubs namely Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha.
The government of the United States justified its policy on laptop ban and it was said that this was to increase national security. There was a report before from the evaluated intelligence that some terrorist organizations were looking to hide bombs in the electronics o passengers and then smuggle them onto the planes.
But this laptop ban cause controversies most especially when it comes to the timing of its implementation and the choice of the affected airports and airlines. There were even some reports suggesting that the purpose might be economic protectionism as these US airlines were not at all affected by the said ban. This created trouble and hassle for the passengers most especially the traveling businessmen.
It can be recalled that before the implementation of the laptop ban, President Donald Trump made a very controversial executive order which restricted travel to the U.S. from seven major Muslim countries. After the U.S., the UK also did the same and initiated their own laptop ban but only targeting a slightly different list of airlines from North Africa and the Middle East.
