OT - Plot to Blow Up Planes Heading From Britain to USA Disrupted
News Via BBC
A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.
Police are searching premises after 21 people were arrested. Home Secretary John Reid said they believed the "main players" were accounted for.
High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical after the arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham.
Critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK". Three US airlines are believed to have been targeted. Mr Reid said had the attack gone ahead it would have caused a loss of life of "unprecedented scale". He said they were "confident" the main players were in custody, but neither the police nor government are "in any way complacent". We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction. Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday in the Caribbean, paid tribute to the the police and the security services. He said they had tracked the situation for a "long period of time" and had "been involved in an extraordinary amount of hard work."
"I thank them for the great job they are doing in protecting our country. "There has been an enormous amount of co-operation with the US authorities which has been of great value and underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it," he said in a statement.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plot was thought to have involved a series of "waves" of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time. He also said the plan "revolved around liquids of some kind". "Officials say the explosives would have been sophisticated and extremely effective," our correspondent said.
Airport 'crammed'
Meanwhile, at Heathrow Airport incoming short-haul flights have resumed, but long-haul services are seriously delayed. Several outbound services have been cancelled. The airport is crammed with thousands of passengers, while at Stansted more than 2,000 people are queuing to pass through customs.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said the alleged plotters had intended "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".
"We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction and to commit, quite frankly, mass murder," he said.
"We believe that the terrorists' aim was to smuggle explosives on to aeroplanes in hand luggage and to detonate these in flight. We also believe that the intended targets were flights from the United Kingdom to the United States of America."
Police had spoken to a "good number of community leaders to make them aware that a major operation was under way," he added. Head of the Met's anti-terrorist branch Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said the investigation had had "global dimensions" and had seen an "unprecedented level" of surveillance. The decision to take action had been taken on Wednesday night, he added.
According to BBC sources the "principal characters" suspected of being involved in the plot were British-born. There are also understood to be links to Pakistan. BBC home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe said police sources had told him they had found "interesting items" which were being examined. In other major developments:
Houses in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, are evacuated by police. US air marshals are being sent to the UK to provide extra air security. The US Department of Homeland Security increased the threat level applied to US-bound commercial flights originating in the UK to "red" - the first time it has done this for flights coming in from another country
The Home Office confirmed there had been meetings overnight and on Thursday morning of the Cabinet's emergency committee, Cobra, chaired by Home Secretary John Reid, to discuss the terror alert. A spokesman for Number 10 said Tony Blair had briefed US President George Bush on the situation during the night
BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said despite the arrests the threat level had been raised "in case there is some other sub-plot, back-up plot around this that the police aren't aware of".
The Department for Transport set out the details of the security measures at UK airports. Passengers are not allowed to take any hand luggage on to any flights in the UK, the department said.
Only the barest essentials - including passports and wallets - will be allowed to be carried on board in transparent plastic bags.
"We hope that these measures, which are being kept under review by the government, will need to be in place for a limited period only," the statement said.
Another sad day for the world when innocent people are targeted in the name of terrorism.
I feel bad for you accordian boy...
Quote:
Originally Posted by slayer2psp
Sad the USA needs to understand the needs and thoughts of other peoples ideas and religions just becuse you dont understand it doesnt make it wrong you cant force people to think your way and thats what the usa seems to want. every one to be like them
We don't want to force anybody to believe anything against their will. We just don't want Airplanes flying into our buildings killing thousands upon thousands of innocent poeple. Women & children included. It is not really about GOD superiority. Allah is the word for GOD in the Muslim religion. Most religions believe in only 1 GOD. Not different gods. It is just my opinion that Islam as a religion is very shady.
Quote:
Originally Posted by accordian boy
well done for voltron the racist hillbilly and i wouldnt be surprised if soon we are told that the terrorists are all hezbollah and both the USA and UK find this justification go and offer even more help to the Israel army force.
conincidences dont exist.
While I do understand that there will always be misguided people like yourself whenever this type of touchy subject arises, it must also be pointed out that you don't seem to know facts behind current events.
::Concerning Israel vs. Hezbollah::
To counter any uneducated attacks to my comments let me educate you.
1.) Israel pulled out of Lebanon completely back in 2000 in a step towards peace.
2.) Instead of building peace and being nice, Hezbollah stocked thousands of missiles & other weapons in preparation for future conflict against Israel.
3.) The UN (United Nations) passes security resolution 1559 which required Hezbollah to disarm. Hezbollah obviously ignored.
4.) Hezbollah is an armed militant Islamic faction of Iran.
5.) The WAR raging now by Israel was started by Hezbollah who crossed Israels Sovereign border, killed 8 Israeli soldiers, kidnapped 2, then launched Katyusha rockets filled with ball-bearings into innocent Israeli towns.
Soooo what the hell is your problem accordian boy? The "coincidence" is that Israel just happens to be in between 2 terrorist organizations. Hezbollah (Lebanon) & Hamas (Palestine). If the United Kingdom were right next to Lebanon, Hezbollah would have attacked British troops and civilians.
So in closing, cut it out with the useless ignorant posts on this thread. We are and have been a friendly community. I am willing to bet you anything that the majority people would side with my views as opposed to yours.
A big dissapointment from an admin
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darksaviour69
What about the IRA?, UVF? etc and in my book the whole Israeli army are terrorists, if not war criminals.
WOW! I am sooo glad you posted that comment. Especially being an admin. I just have to quote it in case you have a rare surge of intelligence and edit your post.
Now if people missed this on page 3, they can certainly see it on page 4.
I can admit I am not informed as much with the IRA & UVF as I am with Radical Islam, but I did say "just about". I was not ruling out the fact that other people or groups may have taken part in terrorism.
Saying the IDF ( Israeli Defense Force) are war criminals, that is stooping pretty low. I am not Jewish and I don't live in Israel but what Israel has done made me feel tremendous respect and appreciation for them. I wish all countries responded to terrorism this way.
War is ugly, war is brutal. But Isreal did not start this. What I think will be pretty certain is that I think everyone will think twice before attacking Israel again. This will likely provide a more secure future for Israelis in the long run. Its amazing that defending yourself against Muslim fanatics by using force is seen as criminal. Yeah, poor terrorists. They deserve so much sympathy for their cause..... get real!!!
What Hezbollah did to Israel, they would have done to the U.S.A., the UK, and many other predominately peaceful countries. Wouldn't you want your countries leadership to destroy this kind of threat as Israel is doing? If not, you don't understand the REAL world today.
Administrator or not, you are a fool DarkSaviour69!! Most people will see it now, I'm just not afraid to say it out loud.
