British Foiled Plot to blow up 10 Planes from UK to US

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy] Well I guess this was on the news at about 8:30AM EST this morning and I'm surprised that no one has posted about it yet. But Hey that's what I'm here for. To make countless posts. So here goes nothing:[/color][/font]

[quote=news.yahoo]LONDON - British police said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot, possibly just days away, to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners over the Atlantic and kill thousands. Chilling accounts leaked by investigators described a plan on the scale of 9/11 that would use liquid explosives concealed as sports drink bottles and common electronic devices to bring down as many as 10 planes in a nearly simultaneous strike.

The bombs were to be assembled on the aircraft apparently using a peroxide-based solution detonated by such devices as a disposable camera or a music player, two American law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.

A federal law enforcement official in Washington said that at least one martyrdom tape was found during ongoing raids across England on Thursday. Such a tape, as well as the scheme to strike a range of targets at roughly the same time, is an earmark of al-Qaida.

British authorities arrested 24 people based partly on intelligence from Pakistan, where authorities detained up to three others several days earlier. More arrests were expected, the official said. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry, and the official said some had gone to Pakistan recently.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said the 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 at least two or three men were assigned to each flight, the schedules for which they had researched on the Internet, the official said.

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

Terror threat levels were raised to some of their highest levels and hundreds of flights were canceled worldwide. Passengers stood in line for hours and airport trash bins bulged with everything from mouthwash and shaving cream to maple syrup and fine wine. Governors in at least three U.S. states ? California, New York and Massachusetts ? ordered National Guard troops to help provide security.

"We want to make sure that there are no remaining threats out there, and we also want to take steps to prevent any would-be copycats who may be inspired to similar conduct," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Experts said the nature of the plot could herald a new age of terrorism where attackers have access to explosives that are easy to carry and conceal. Emergency security measures quickly implemented on Thursday provided a stark vision of the possible future of air travel.

Mothers tasted baby food in front of airport security guards to prove it contained no liquid explosives. Liquids and gels were banned from flights. Travelers repacked their luggage in airports, stowing all but the most necessary items in the hold.

Although plots to blow up airliners using liquid explosives are not new ? such an attempt was foiled more than a decade ago ? the U.S. government has been slow to upgrade its security equipment at airport checkpoints to detect explosives on passengers.

U.S. authorities did not say how long the security measures would last. "We are taking the step of preventing liquids from getting into the cabin to give us time to make adjustments," Chertoff said.

The raids in Britain on Thursday followed a monthslong investigation, but U.S. intelligence officials said authorities moved quickly after learning the plotters hoped to stage a practice run within two days, with the actual attack expected just days after that.

The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Targeted were United, American and Continental Airlines flights from Britain to major U.S. destinations, which counterterrorism officials said probably included New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the individuals plotted to detonate liquid explosive devices on as many as 10 aircraft.

"This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation," President Bush declared.

The plane bombings could have come just ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks carried out by al-Qaida. The terror group's leader Osama bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed hiding along the Pakistan- Afghanistan border and have repeatedly issued tapes threatening new attacks.

"In terms of scale, it was probably designed to be ... a new Sept. 11," said Jean-Charles Brisard, a French private investigator who works with lawyers of many Sept. 11 victims. "It involved the same tools, the same transportation tools and devices."

The close call also shifted attention once more to Britain's Islamic community just over a year after the London transit attacks. Three Britons of Pakistani descent and a Jamaican convert to Islam carried out those deadly bombings with a peroxide-based explosive that trained operatives can make using ordinary ingredients such as hair bleach.

In Pakistan, an intelligence official said the arrest of an Islamic militant near that border several weeks ago played a role in "unearthing the plot." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some suspects arrested in Britain were linked to al-Qaida. However, authorities stopped short of accusing al-Qaida directly for the plot.

A senior Pakistani government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter, said "two or three local people" suspected in the plot were arrested a few days ago in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi.

French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said the group "appears to be of Pakistani origin," but did not give a precise source for the information. Britain's Home Office refused comment.

A British police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if all were British citizens. He said authorities were working with Britain's large South Asian community.

Tariq Azim Khan, the Pakistani minister of state for information, said "these people were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. Some of them may have parents who were immigrants from Pakistan."

Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Searches continued throughout the day, and police cordoned off streets in several locations. Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe.

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 suspect. "He played football. He goes to the mosque. He's a nice guy."

The British government raised its threat assessment to its highest level ? critical ? which warns that a terrorist attack could be imminent. The U.S. government, following suit, raised its threat assessment to red alert, also its highest level, for commercial flights from Britain to the United States. [/quote]

[Raiyuu]

[font=trebuchet ms]This "critical" alert level of ours has really hit airline passengers, especially business class. Hand luggage is limited to wallets and essential medication, and women bringing baby milk on board have to taste it in front of security guards. They're being restrictive about liquid medication as well, and that's led to theories that the plot involved some sort of liquid explosive - go into the toilet and pour two things together to make a bomb, that sort of thing.

Twenty-five people have been arrested in London, and had their assets frozen. Seven others, including two Britons, have been arrested by Pakistani police, who have been helping with the ongoing investigation for some time. The police have 28 days to charge their prisoners, so by then we'll see how effective the operation has been, and to what extent this attack was going to reach.

So there's massive inconvenience, especially for business-class passengers who can't bring their laptops or mobile phones on board the plane. But if it's all prevented "the most devastating terrorist attack the world has ever seen" (which is what BBC News 24 has been calling it) then it's well worth the inconvenience.[/font]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Pretty worrying to hear. Can you imagine the devastation and utter pandemonium that it would have caused? It would have been far, far worse than 9/11

What is kind of concerning is how close the enforcement agencies cut it though.... they've been watching them since December and they believe the terrorirts were only uop to 48 hours from carrying out their plan. Cutting it fine, anyone?[/size]

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]Thank you, CHW, for starting this thread. I was too lazy to start it, so... ^^;;

I agree with Baron that they cut it pretty close, but at least they *did* catch it. The pandemonium it would have caused - had the attack succeeded, would have been incredible.

They shows garbage cans fill of liquids being thrown away, on TV, because they couldn't take them. One woman had all these prefumes from Tiffany's that she had to dispose of, but she said it was a small price to pay for keeping her life. Most people have been pretty sporting about it, from what I've heard.

In one of the preliminary reports (meaning this might have changed), they said that the attackers ranged in age from 17 to 38.

I'm 17, and I'm sure a lot of you are close to that age - 15, 16, 17, 18. Can you imagine selling your life to a fundamental terrorist group? It's absolutely... I don't know what. It's just crazy. It makes me sad to think about someone so young being caught up in something like this. *shakes head* And before someone tries to rip my head off - I'm not sympathetic to him too much - I mean, they're trying to kill thousands of people, and they think what they're doing is okay - but just the age; makes you stop and think for a millisecond. *shrug*[/color]

[Retribution]

[size=1]The only thing I'd like to add is that these terrorists are [i]resourceful as hell.[/i] True, their intent was malicious, but seriously... who thought of using perfume and food containers to blow the plane up that way?

As a side note, it's disturbing to hear that British police are questioning "anyone with a beard." It's really too bad that in times of crisis, people forfeit civil liberties in the name of "public safety."[/size]

[Fasteriskhead]

[quote name='Retribution][size=1]The only thing I'd like to add is that these terrorists are [i]resourceful as hell.[/i'] True, their intent was malicious, but seriously... who thought of using perfume and food containers to blow the plane up that way?[/size][/quote]Actually, Ramzi Yousef did (with a little help from his uncle, Khalid Mohammed), about 12 years ago.

I've seen a very few newspapers comment on this, but for the most part the media seems to have completely forgotten these guys and, predictably, has ended up treating the liquid explosive idea as if it was totally new. It's not - this is basically the same plan that Yousef and co. were planning in 1995, before dumb luck (the explosives they were mixing in their apartment caught fire) probably saved the lives of a few thousand people. Read [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oplan_Bojinka#Airline_bombing_plot][u]this[/u][/url] and also [url=http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/ramzi-yousef/][U]this[/U][/url]. There's simply no possibility that the guys from thursday weren't at least [i]inspired[/i] by Yousef's plans; more than likely, they were trying to complete them more than a decade later.

[aoi_hikari]

I didn't actually see this on the news, just a special on terrorism on primetime. I also heard, that at some airports (in addition to making them give you all your drinks and bottles and stuff, with additonal baggage checks), they have you take off your shoes so that they can check for bombs hidden in them, because this one guy actually put a bomb in his shoe (O.O)
At least from this, we got wiser in how to prevent bombs from being taken on to planes, and no one was hurt.