Racial profiling alleged at Boston's Logan airport

NEW YORK (AP) - Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston's Logan International Airport are alleging that a programme intended to help flag possible terrorists based on passengers' mannerisms has led to rampant racial profiling, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The New York Times reported on its website that in interviews and internal complaints it has obtained, more than 30 officers involved in the "behaviour detection" programme at Logan contend that the operation targets not only Middle Easterners, but also passengers who fit certain profiles - such as Hispanics traveling to Miami, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward.

The TSA told the newspaper on Friday that it is investigating the officers' claims.

At a meeting last month with the agency, officers provided written complaints, some of them anonymous, from 32 officers.