British police arrest 24 Muzis planning to blow up planes

LONDON - 10 Aug. 06~ British police say they smashed a scheme to use liquid explosives smuggled inside carry-on luggage to blow up 10 American planes over the Atlantic. A dry run was just days away when police made their swoop on 24 Moslem suspects, authorities said.

The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, U.S. intelligence officials told the Associated Press.

"We are confident that we've prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," London's deputy police commissioner, Paul Stephenson, said Thursday.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said the Moslem suspects, whose ages ranged from 17 to the mid-30s, were looking to sneak at least some chemicals on the planes in sports drink bottles. Teams of two or three men were assigned to each flight. The suspects researched flight schedules on the Internet, the official said.

Two other U.S. officials said British, American and Pakistani investigators are trying to trace the steps of the Moslem suspects in Pakistan and are seeking to determine whether a couple of them attended terrorist training camps there.

American investigators praised Britain for preventing a catastrophe. "If this plot had actually occurred, the world would have stood still," said Mark Mershon, assistant director of the FBI.

New searches implemented

Beginning Friday, U.S. travelers with carry-on bags will be double-searched, once at security and once at their flight's gate. Authorities began those searches Thursday at U.S. airports with flights to Europe.

The would-be terrorists hoped to target U.S. flights from Britain to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations, one U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press. The targeted airlines: American, Continental and United. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Authorities haven't named the suspected substances, but The Christian Science Monitor says anti-terrorism experts have noted growing use of peroxide-based explosives.

Triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which was found in the sneakers of Moslem shoe bomber Richard Reid in 2001, packs 80% of TNT's punch, the Monitor says.

Moslem Terrorists used TATP in London bombs last summer, said the Monitor, citing analysts at Jane's Information Group in Britain.

In Green Bay, Wis., President Bush called the foiled plot a "stark reminder" that the United States is "at war with Islamic fascists."

The 24 Moslems picked up in raids in London, in its suburbs and in Birmingham in central England were arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.

British officials disclosed no details about the plot or those Moslems arrested, although one police official indicated the people in custody were British residents. However, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said "they appear to be Moslems of Pakistani origin."

Hamza Ghafoor, 20, who lives across the street from one of the homes raided in Walthamstow, northeast of London, said police circled the block in vans Wednesday and that they generally swoop into the neighborhood to question "anyone with a beard."

"Ibrahim didn't do nothing wrong," Ghafoor said, referring to a Moslem suspect. "He played football. He goes to the mosque. He's a nice guy."

Great Britain raised its threat level to "critical" — the highest — indicating danger of an imminent attack. U.S. authorities, for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, raised the U.S. terrorist alert to "red" on all flights from Great Britain. The level for other flights was raised to "orange," or high. Air travel restrictions include a ban on all carry-on liquids.

The security clampdown disrupted air traffic between the USA and Britain and created a ripple effect for passengers throughout Europe. London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, was closed to almost all incoming flights, creating huge crowds and confusion. Passengers lucky enough to catch a flight were banned from carrying hand luggage or liquids.

In the USA, the Transportation Security Administration issued new rules for all flights. Passengers will not be allowed to carry liquids onto planes indefinitely, although liquids such as cosmetics will be allowed in checked baggage.

Chertoff: Scheme 'was sophisticated'

The Moslem plot, foiled one month before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11th attack on the World Trade Center in New York City by Moslem terrorists , was well planned and well financed, authorities said.

"It was sophisticated. It had a number of members, all Moslems and it was international in scope," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday. He said it appeared to involve a "significant number of operatives."

"The Moslem plotters were in the final stages of planning before execution," he said.

Chertoff declined to say whether any bombs had been constructed but said the Moslem group "had accumulated the capabilities necessary" to carry out the Moslem attack.

It was not immediately clear who may have been behind the plot, although Chertoff said it had all the markings of the Moslem terrorist organization al-Qaeda.

ABC News quoted sources as saying Western intelligence agencies had identified three of the Moslem ringleaders. It said two Moslems were believed to have traveled recently to Pakistan and later had money wired to them from Pakistan, purportedly to purchase airline tickets for the Moslem suicide bombers.

The suspects arrested in Britain were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a British police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.

British Home Secretary John Reid said he believes the authorities have arrested the "main players in this particular Moslem conspiracy" but emphasized that the investigation was continuing and said more Moslem arrests were possible.

The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that police evacuated homes in High Wycombe, 30 miles northwest of London, near one of the Moslem homes that was being searched. The BBC showed video of a Moslem house where police officers were visible.

Police refused to confirm the report or to discuss any details of the continuing searches.

Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said the investigation had been going on for several months and involved British intelligence and police forces as well as unnamed international agencies.

Pakistan's government said later its intelligence agents helped Britain crack the plot and had arrested some Moslem suspects.

"Pakistan played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tasnim Aslam said, but she declined to give details.

Travelers wait longer

At airports on both sides of the Atlantic, authorities were attempting to normalize new screening procedures, but disruptions seemed likely to continue for several weeks.

Huge lines formed at ticket counters and behind security barriers at Heathrow and other British airports. At airline check-in desks, attendants gave passengers clear, resealable bags to carry the few things allowed as carry-on items: wallets, passports, toiletries and keys. Everything else had to be placed into check-in luggage.

Thousands of people, stranded by canceled flights, stood or slept on almost every available space, including tables.

Faced with a three-hour flight delay, Margo McIntyre, 62, of Burns Flat, Okla., described three ways to pass the time waiting for her flight: "Eat, drink, shop. We still have a few British pounds to spend."

At Washington's Dulles airport, security lines snaked the length of the terminal. Screeners confiscated toothpaste, hair gel, aftershave, cologne, lipstick, and lip balm — anything that resembled a liquid or gel.

Passengers also faced a second screening at the gate for flights departing for London, as well as for randomly selected flights.

In a new sign of the times, hastily scrawled messages were taped to ticket counters to reinforce the new rules: "No liquid or gels permitted aboard aircraft."

CFPA: How many news agencies have described these terrorists as Moslems or even mentioned the word Islam? Why do we keep hearing "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" ?? It's not unimaginable, since 9-11 it's very imaginable, even had they been successful in blowing up 9 or 10 planes the death toll probably still wouldn't have been as great as 9-11. Our hats off to British intelligence for a job well done and saving thousands of innocent lives the majority of them Americans. As long as we allow Muzis to immigrate into our countries we are going to have this kind of terrorism that's why we must say NO MUZI IMMIGRANTS!

10 Aug 2006