A Sudanese man arrested for carrying bullets at London's Heathrow Airport after flying in from Washington has been charged with firearms offences but terror charges have been dropped, British police said on Friday.  

Alwasila Alhibr Wassila, 45, was arrested on Wednesday after passing through a security check following his arrival on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington's Dulles airport en route to Dubai.

Security sources said Wassila had five bullets of two different types.

British police said he had been charged with two offences of possession of prohibited ammunition under Britain's Firearms Act, and one charge of possessing dangerous articles on an airliner.

Wassila will appear at London's Bow Street magistrates court later on Friday.

Security has been especially tight at Heathrow and other big world airports in recent weeks, with US-bound flights from Britain, France and Mexico grounded amid fears of a plot by extremists to carry out another September 11-style attack.

With the US administration eager to see security beefed up at other airports round the world, Wednesday's incident raised questions about how the man managed to get past security checks at Dulles airport.

Washington is demanding airlines carry armed marshals on some planes and has begun fingerprinting and photographing foreigners at more than 100 airports.

British pilots say security on the ground is more important.

(China Daily January 16, 2004)