Planes linked with the controversial “extraordinary rendition” practice of the CIA mainly touched down in Dundee and Leuchars as part of journeys to and from the USA, it has emerged.
Further details can now be revealed about the eight American planes which landed between October 2001 and October 2005 six at the Fife RAF base and two at the city’s commercial airport and are alleged to be involved in the US security service’s programme.
Some had multi-legged journeys and most touched down in either New York or New Jersey, although Baltimore Washington International also featured and one of the Dundee flights made a short hop to Glasgow Prestwick.
Labour’s Dundee West MP Jim McGovern, whose party was in power during the flights’ stops, said he had no knowledge of the city’s airport being used by any controversial planes but added he would be “horrified” if it emerged detainees had been on a flight stopping off locally.
“As a backbench MP, and very briefly the lowest rank of minister in the last government, I would be among the last to know of the activities of the security services in Britain or overseas,” he said.
“I hope that we can get to the bottom of what the Americans were up to at Dundee Airport, and what the British Government knew of it. I will raise this matter with the Foreign Secretary in order to find out.”
Given that all of the planes landing in Tayside and Fife were bound for countries where human rights laws apply, it is unlikely any were rendition flights.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Responsibility lies with the UK Government who state that permission for rendition flights would only ever be granted if the UK Government was satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK laws and our international obligations.
“The Scottish Government does not believe such flights could ever be in accordance with domestic or international law and we would not expect such consent to ever be granted.”
The UK Government said US officials have denied there being any cases of intelligence flights landing in the UK with a detainee on board since September 11 2001, with the exception of two cases of rendition through Diego Garcia in 2002.