TSA Says The Actor Was "Joking" On British TV

ANN Udate 2.11.2010 0920: TSA says the story concerning Shah Rukh Khan is a hoax. In a TSA blog, the agency says "A rumor is going around that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan had an Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) image of himself leaked by UK Security officers at Heathrow. This rumor, though juicy, is unfounded.

TSA reached out to the UK's Department for Transport (DFT) and learned that, just like advanced imaging technology machines in U.S. airports, they do not have printers or the ability to store images in the airport setting.

Additionally, DFT pointed TSA to the source of the rumor: an interview with BBCs Jonathan Ross. Though he doesn't explicitly say that he's joking, we can confirm in all seriousness that the machines don't do what he jokingly describes."

Original Story:

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan said he is frequently stopped by security at airports because of his name, but after full-body scanners were installed at Heathrow Airport, Kahn said he suddenly found himself looking at a picture of ... himself.

File Photo

Airport personnel had captured and printed Kahn's body scan, and were looking at them as he came out of the machine. The Indo-Asian News Service reports that Kahn, appearing on a the British talk show "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross", said "Then I saw these girls - they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said 'give them to me' - and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them."

So much for the machines not saving or transmitting images.

Kahn said the images left very little to the imagination. "It makes you embarrassed ... if you're not well endowed," he told Ross.

British authorities recently said anyone selected to be screened by a full body scanner who refused would not be allowed to board their plane. The government also lifted the restriction against scanning passengers under the age of 18, which some say violates child pornography laws.

FMI: www.dft.gov.uk, www.tsa.gov