LONDON – Britain’s foreign intelligence service is investigating whether

al-Qaida hackers -described as some of the best in the world – broke into

the state-of-the- art computerized systems of the British Airways flight that

crash-landed in London last week.

Sources have confirmed hackers could have tampered with the Boeing 777

before it left Beijing en route to Heathrow Airport, where it landed at the

very time British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was about to take off in an

identical aircraft on his visit to China.

“It could be possible to interfere with one of the electronic systems on

board Flight 38 so that a total malfunction could be generated as it was on

its final approach,” an intelligence source confirmed.

Meanwhile, British foreign intelligence service agents, two of whom were on

board the Brown flight to Beijing, are checking the background of the ground

crews at Beijing Airport who were responsible for fueling the 777.

Around the Pacific Rim, some of the fuel loaders are Pakistani, and

intelligence services for Britain and other nations fear background security

checks have been lax.

Concerns also have been raised about cabin cleaners, who have ready access

to the flight deck while preparing an aircraft for take-off.