LONDON British authorities said Thursday they have disrupted a sophisticated and well-advanced terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners using liquid explosives, arresting 24 people who police said had planned to commit mass murder over the Atlantic Ocean.
Police said they were confident they had the main players in custody, but authorities in London and Washington ordered a full-scale security clampdown at U.S. and British airports out of concern that other plotters may still be at large. A number of transatlantic flights from Britain were canceled, others were delayed, and new security procedures caused major tie-ups at U.S. airports as authorities enforced a ban on bringing liquids aboard planes in carry-on luggage.
In the United States, the Homeland Security Department raised the terrorist threat level to Code Red, the highest alert stage, for U.S.-bound flights originating in the United Kingdom and to Code Orange, the second-highest level, for all other commercial flights operating in or destined for the United States.
According to a U.S. intelligence official, the plotters were days away from going through with their plan. Searches Wednesday night turned up airline schedule information in their possession, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. All of those arrested were British citizens, and most appeared to be of Pakistani descent, the official said.
Another U.S. intelligence official said some of those arrested had traveled to South Asia recently and that the Pakistani intelligence service had been helpful in the investigation. The alleged plotters were very, very far along, and their plan had progressed to the point where it could have been carried out in the very near future, the official said. Im talking about days or a few weeks. This month.
British authorities initially reported that 21 suspects had been arrested. Late Thursday, Scotland Yard increased the figure to 24.
Pakistani authorities also made some arrests of British nationals in connection with the arrests in Britain, said Tasnim Aslam, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Foreign Office. She declined to elaborate on the number of people arrested or their identities.
A senior European intelligence official said at least a few people suspected of being involved in the plot were missing and that it was unclear whether they were still in Britain. Investigators also are still trying to determine who was running the operation and whether that person was based in Pakistan, the official said. The plotters had not yet booked specific flights but were searching airline routes and apparently did not plan to purchase tickets until the last minute, the official said.
The FBI chased numerous leads over the last several weeks related to the case, including running down communications involving some suspects and people in the United States, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said. But the official insisted that no evidence has been found of plotters or accomplices in the United States.
British authorities said the threat involved terrorists who aimed to smuggle liquid explosive material aboard airplanes in hand baggage, as well as timers and detonators that could be assembled in flight. British Home Secretary John Reid said the operation was aimed at bringing down a number of aircraft reportedly as many as 10 through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life.
President Bush called the alleged plot a stark reminder that 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. In brief remarks on an airport tarmac in Green Bay, Wis., en route to deliver a speech about the economy, Bush said the United States is safer than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but obviously were still not completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in.
He said that travelers are going to be inconvenienced as a result of the steps weve taken, adding, I urge their patience and ask them to be vigilant.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference Thursday in Washington that the plot was well-planned and well-advanced. He said the plotters had accumulated and assembled the capabilities that they needed and were in the final stages of planning before execution.
Chertoff said the plotters were very determined and very skilled and very capable, and that their plan was certainly about as sophisticated as any weve seen in recent years as far as terrorism is concerned. He said, This was not a circumstance where you had a handful of people sitting around coming up with dreamy ideas about terrorist plots.
Chertoff said that although the plan was indicative of an al-Qaida operation, U.S. and British officials cannot yet form a definitive conclusion about al-Qaida involvement.
Londons Deputy Police Commissioner, Paul Stephenson, said the arrests in London, southeastern England and Birmingham, Englands second-largest city, came after a months-long investigation into what he said was a plan for mass murder on an unimaginable scale.
Peter Clarke, chief of the London police departments anti-terrorism branch, said the investigation reached a critical point Wednesday night, requiring immediate disruption of the plot, the arrests and the imposition of heightened security measures.
The plotters intended to target flights operated by American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines, a U.S. official said.
Passengers at all airports in the United States were told to expect intensified searches, considerable delays and new restrictions on carry-on items. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that passengers on all U.S. flights, domestic and international, would be banned from transporting any type of liquid or gel in their carry-on luggage. The ban applies to all types of beverages, shampoo, toothpaste, hair gels and other items of a similar consistency, the TSA announced.
Chertoff said there were exceptions for baby formula and medicines, but that these would be closely inspected at airport security checkpoints.
The hastily imposed new rules forced passengers at U.S. airports to dump their water bottles, suntan lotion, perfume, alcohol and other liquid items before being allowed to board their flights. U.S. airport officials asked passengers to put such items in checked baggage instead.
Chertoff, who was briefed by British officials, said the measures were taken as a precaution against any members of the plot who may still be at large and to prevent any would-be copycats who may be inspired to similar conduct.
Chertoff said the attackers planned to carry explosive material and detonation components on planes disguised as beverages, electronic devices and other common objects. He indicated that the operation might have been difficult to detect if it had reached the execution phase, because the plot apparently involved having different operatives separately bring components of a bomb aboard each plane. He said each of the components would be benign, but when mixed together would create a bomb.
The plan, Chertoff said, was reminiscent of a plot hatched in the 1990s by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the top al-Qaida operative who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks, to detonate liquid explosives on 11 U.S. airliners over the Pacific Ocean.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official said that as in the earlier scheme, code-named Bojinka, the alleged plotters in Britain apparently planned to detonate their bombs in mid-air. The similarities to Bojinka are striking and are very much on everyones minds, the official said.
That Bojinka plan was foiled when the plotters accidentally started a fire in a Manila apartment in January 1995 while mixing chemicals to make explosives. They had planned to plant bombs on the airliners, disembark at stopovers and use timers to set off the explosives while the planes were over the Pacific.
The ringleader was Ramzi Yousef, who was later jailed in the United States for that plot and a 1993 attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in New York. Yousef tested that type of bomb in 1994, when he planted a smaller version on a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Japan, killing a Japanese businessman and injuring 10 other people. Investigators later discovered that Yousef had smuggled nitroglycerin aboard the plane in a contact lens solution bottle.
In 1987, a liquid explosive is believed to have brought down a South Korean passenger plane, killing all 115 on board. According to a suspects confession, North Korean agents planted the bomb, which was concealed in an alcoholic drink bottle and detonated remotely.
The idea of using suicide bombers to bring explosives onto planes also is not new. In December 2001, British citizen Richard Reid attempted to ignite his explosives-laden shoes aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. Reid, who became known as the shoe bomber, was overpowered by alarmed crew members and passengers.
In July 2005, terrorists attacked Londons subway and bus system with bombs made of acetone and peroxide mixed in plastic containers. Those attacks claimed 52 lives and injured hundreds of others.
British intelligence agents had followed the threads for sometime, Chertoff said. The United States got more involved only recently, when information emerged that the plotters were targeting U.S. airliners flying between Britain and the United States.
Officials at Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world, appeared on television and asked people not to travel to the airport at all if possible. As they spoke, crowds of travelers were already clogging the corridors and lounges at Heathrow and at other British terminals.
John Reid, who as head of the Home Ministry is equivalent to the U.S. attorney general, said American officials, including President Bush and Chertoff, were contacted early Thursday morning about the decision to disrupt the conspiracy.
We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted, Chertoff said in a pre-dawn statement. Currently, there is no indication of plotting within the United States.
TSA administrator Kip Hawley said his agency had increased training for agency screeners to find such liquid explosives.
This has been on our radar screen, he said, describing the use of liquid explosives in bombs. You just dont take a chance with something as serious as this. The measures that have been put into place are very strong and very aggressive and go directly to the heart of anything close to that plot.
Branigin reported from Washington. Staff writers Karen DeYoung, Dafna Linzer, Dan Eggen, Debbi Wilgoren, Del Quentin Wilber, Fred Barbash and Spencer S. Hsu in Washington contributed to this story.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
