WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s Warsaw Chopin airport will remove security scanners manufactured by Chinese company Nuctech over security concerns, an airport official said on Wednesday.
The decision was based on an analysis by the Civil Aviation Authority, which voiced the security issues, said Piotr Rudzki, head of the airport’s communication department.
“Just like the later position of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the recommendation was that these devices may not be safe and therefore it is recommended to refrain from using them,” Rudzki told Reuters.
Nuctech could not be reached for an immediate comment.
Warsaw Chopin airport’s four large Nuctech scanners, which scan checked-in luggage, will be replaced in March 2025, by devices produced by Polish consortium Dimark-Anglosec, Rudzki said.
Nuctech makes body and luggage scanners for airports and ports used in more than 170 countries and it was among Chinese tech companies blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2020, which had said that the firms were security threats.
In 2022 Strasbourg airport’s deal to buy baggage-scanning equipment made by Nuctech upset some European lawmakers, who called for the contract to be reversed until an independent investigation was carried out to check whether Nuctech’s technology posed no spying risk.
(Reporting by Barbara Erling; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
