Heathrow...'Plot to blow up planes' foiled

[samsonyuen]

From: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778575.stm
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'Plot to blow up planes' foiled

Police have arrested about 18 people in the London area after an anti-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Security at all airports in the UK has been tightened and delays are expected. MI5 has raised the UK threat level to critical - the highest possible.

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I was handed a piece of paper saying that pretty much nothing could be taken on board the plane
Joe Lynam
BBC journalist at Gatwick

In full: Transport advice

According to MI5's website, critical threat level means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK".

Scotland Yard said in a statement that their investigation into the alleged plot was a "major operation" which would be "lengthy and complex".

"We would like to reassure the public that this operation was carried out with public safety uppermost in our minds."

Home Secretary John Reid is due to make a statement early on Thursday morning.

Transparent bags

The Department for Transport set out the details of the security measures at UK airports.

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THREAT LEVEL
The current threat level is assessed as critical as of 10th August 2006 - this means that an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK
MI5 statement

Passengers will not be 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.

BBC journalist Joe Lynam encountered the increased security measures at Gatwick airport.

"I was handed a piece of paper saying that pretty much nothing could be taken on board the plane," he said.

"Everything had to be checked in and that includes mobile phones, ipods, wallets - even spectacle cases had to be checked in."

David Learmount from Flight International Magazine said he expected passengers to be searched much more carefully.

He added: "This is the first time this measure has actually been taken. Certainly I've never seen hand luggage banned."

 

[wonderboy905]

After the British were exposed for that subway terror disastor I wouldn't be surprised if this was just as shady. Whatever justifies sending out more troops I guess...

 

[Abeja de Almirante]

They will come a point where Europeans will grow tired of the growing perception of Islamic threat to their safety.

 

[ganjavih]

^ ...and?

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

By sheer coincidence I've started Ian McEwan's Saturday, which touches upon these issues. One of my favourite writers.

 

[Malvern1]

muslims at it again

 

[spmarshall]

^ Post of the year.

 

[spmarshall]

Seriously - I it's hard to believe the new restrictions - no liquids, not even purchased in airside secure areas. The airlines have cut back on so much that it's not even easy to get water - airlines that have cut in-flight service or charge do say you have the option of bringing your own food aboard. So much for that. Next they'll ban people from flying on planes because it poses too much risk.

Better start moving on the high-speed train service in North America.

 

[Abeja de Almirante]

^ ...and?

...the pendulum in Europe will swing from the openess, tollerance and welcomeness of outsiders that we saw in the 1960s to 1990s, and swing toward increasingly xenophobic government policies and more dangerously, public opinion. If a further half dozen or so attacks succeed in Europe, I would not be surprised to see pogroms against Muslim populations, and a new range of politicans calling for their expulsion. Already we're seeing Denmark enacting regulations to keep immigrants out.

 

[afransen TO]

"Next they'll ban people from flying on planes because it poses too much risk. "

No fly list? There's grannies and children on it...

 

[building babel]

I'm furious at these new restrictions.

I won't be able to fill my carry-on bag with homemade jam any more. I've got a fridge full of mulberry, redcurrant, gooseberry and blackcurrant jams - and a plane ticket to Heathrow in a couple of months. My mother, and half of rural Norfolk, are strung out on Babel's traditional male preserves.

What is to be done?

Damn those terrorists!

 

[andreapalladio]

You can still put them in your checked luggage.

 

[building babel]

I never take checked luggage. My elaborate wardrobe, my powders, my divinely scented perfumes - all are kept in Norfolk at my Mother's place. I travel light, just me and the jams and jellies.

How long does one have to wait for checked luggage to appear at Heathrow? Does anyone here know? It will be my usual 6:15 a.m. arrival on AC865.

 

[billonlogan]

From ASSOCIATED PRESS

They ranged in age from 17 to 35 and had Muslim names, many of them common in Pakistan. Pakistani officials said they were British-born.

Homegrown. :\

 

[Danny225]

What I don't understand and seems kind of fishy to me .. is why would "terrorist" go on such elborate schemes to kill people... i mean come on, if they want to kill they might as well go buy a rifle and open fire on the streets... why the "plots" and such?? I'm getting tired of these let's scare the world stories.. sometimes I think that these terrorists win without even doing anything.. just the preception of a plane might explode anywhere at anytime instilles "terror" in the masses.. so lets rally around our Blairs and Bushes and fight terrorism by bombing the hell out of millions of civilians in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan because this way no one will scare us and threaten us by plotting things like blowing up planes!!

does anyone else see this connection??