Broad Strata of Brits Try to Blow Up US-UK Flights
Thursday, 10. August 2006, 06:52:02
JPost:
Authorities in London thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between the United States and the United Kingdom using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, police said Thursday.
Police have arrested a number of people in London after a major covert counter-terrorist operation lasting several months, police said in a statement.
Mail & Guardian:
Britain raised its security-threat level to "critical", which means it expects an attack imminently. The Home Office website showed the rating was raised to "critical" from "severe" earlier on Thursday.
Britain has a five-level rating for security threats, ranging from low to critical, which is the highest level...
The BBC reported that the British Transport Department issued new security rules at airports that include a ban on carry-on luggage on planes for the time being. Only essentials such as passports and wallets are to be allowed and only when carried in transparent plastic bags, the network said.
"British Airways, acting on instruction from the UK government, wishes to advise passengers that no items of hand baggage can be carried on board any aircraft departing any UK airport," the airline said in an e-mailed statement. "The UK government has advised that this instruction will apply to all airlines operating from UK airports."
British Airways said no electrical or battery-powered items will be allowed in the cabin, including laptops and cellphones.
The British Airports Authority said all passengers will be hand-searched and their footwear and all items they carry will be X-rayed. It added that all passengers on flights to the US will be subjected to a secondary search at the boarding gate. All liquids will also be removed, BAA added.
All the articles are based on the same press briefing and contain roughly the same account.
*BALTABDLC.
Update: Terror arrests in Dearborn. Flight documents found, but this is not likely to be related to the UK news. Michelle has a roundup at that link.
Update: Beeb:
Heathrow Airport has been closed to all incoming flights that are not already in the air, following a police anti-terror operation.
British Airways said it had cancelled all its short-haul UK and European inbound and outbound flights to and from Heathrow until 1500 BST.
Update: Via Malkin: "Twenty-one British muslims of Pakistani descent were arrested overnight (majority in London, others in Thames Valley and Birmingham). Two more suspects are currently fugitives (details unconfirmed). Up to 50 more being sought." The M word is now official.
Update: Guardian:
The initial speculation over the nature of the alleged terrorist plot has focused on the fact that almost all liquids have been banned from hand luggage. Not even baby milk will be allowed on board flights departing Britain today unless an accompanying passenger is prepared to taste it in front of security staff....
He said that the only close comparison could be with the foiled Bojinka plot to blow up 12 western airliners simultaneously in Asia in the mid 1990s.
SF Chronicle:
The terror scheme disrupted in London is "suggestive of an al-Qaida plot," the Bush administration said Thursday as it issued its highest terrorism alert ever for commercial flights from Britain to the United States and raised the threat level for all domestic and international flights.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said there was no indication of plotting in the United States but said officials cannot assume that the terror operation in Britain had been completely thwarted.
Update: The view from the Left: it ain't pretty.
WIDGETIZE
maxmuller # 10. August 2006, 10:18
Michele, Debbie and Brigitte are three great ladies to have on my side.
Houssaiky shouted to reporters that he was "doing my job." Just what was his "job"? Do Homeland Security and the FBI want to face facts that these are not the only two Muslim All-American boys raised in this country who performing that "job"?
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/08/all-american_te.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It's all the fault of the MSM, I don't have enough curse words for them. There is no excuse for these terrorists to be here, and operating when we know where their communities are and we see them screeching hate at us everyday.
After we lose the first cities I hope the angry mobs first tear the executives from NBC, ABC, CTV, CBC BBC to tiny little pieces before they go to the Imams.
Quebec is virulently pro-Hezbollah and full of Lebanese Hezbollah supporters. They have Hezbollah activists demanding "minutes of silence" in government meetings ad in cities for "victims" of Israeli aggression (read pro-Hezbollah human shields that deliberately stayed and got justly wiped out).
The mayor of some city in Quebec to his credit stopped protesters in a council meeting in their propaganizations and said they were trying to bring the conflict to Canada. He later privately denounced them as "pr-Hezbollah">
But unfortunately, they are not "trying", they have done so with the help of the leftists.