Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted

83-Steelers-43 · 08-10-2006, 07:26 AM

London Police Disrupt Terrorist Plot to Blow Up Aircraft in Mid-Flight
Thursday, August 10, 2006

LONDON — Authorities in Britain disrupted a "serious" terrorist plan to blow up as many as six airplanes simultaneously in mid-flight on their way from Britain to the United States, FOX News learned Thursday.

The "loss of life to innocent civilians would have been on unprecedented scale” had the plan been carried out, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said.

The plot would have seen terrorists smuggling liquid explosives — that could be missed by x-rays during screening — onto planes via carry-on luggage, security sources told Sky News.

British officials quickly banned hand luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights and raised security to the country's highest level — suggesting a terrorist attack could be imminent.

But a top Scotland Yard official was confident the plot had been foiled, confirming 21 suspects were in custody.

"We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we've prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," said Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson.

Reid said the police were confident the "main players" were among the 21 arrested.

Officials on the condition of anonymity said there could be up to 50 people involved in the plot.

However, Stephenson, nor Reid, commented on that.

"We have been very successful in arresting those we were targeting but this is a lengthy operation, and no doubt there will be further developments," Stephenson said.

Those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men, Sky News reported.

The terrorists were targeting United, American, Continental airlines, two U.S. counterterrorism officials say. But anonymous sources later told FOX News that British airlines were also being targeted.

A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations.

One British police spokesman said the attacks were planned to happen at the same time.

"These were (to be) simultaneous attacks on multiple targets, targeting aircraft bound for the United States," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.

The country's police anti-terrorist chief, Peter Clarke, said the investigation — which reportedly culminated over several months — reached a critical point Wednesday night, and forces realized urgent action needed to be taken.

“We have been looking at meetings, movements, travel, spending and the aspirations of a large group of people," Clarke said. He said the number, destination and timing of the flights that may have been targeted remained under investigation. "As is so often the case in these investigations, the alleged plot has global dimensions."

Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed President Bush on the situation overnight, Blair's office said. There was no immediate public reaction from the White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a "severe risk of terrorist attacks."

"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," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the U.S. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled Thursday morning.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot, which "had a footprint to Al Qaeda back to it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Another U.S. source in Washington told FOX News that the plot had a "serious Al Qaeda connection."

The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said. "They were not yet sitting on an airplane," but were very close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot "the real deal."

Passengers in Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among the items banned from being carried on board.

Liquids, such as hair care products, were also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S., raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid explosive.

Huge lines formed at ticket counters and behind security barriers at Heathrow and other airports in Britain. Ed Lappen, 55, a businessman from Boston, who was traveling with his wife and daughter to Russia, found himself unable to travel further.

"We're safe, we're OK," he said at Heathrow. "Now my daughter is going to get a shopping trip in London."

Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the Manchester airport.

Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage.

Heathrow's block on incoming traffic applied to flights of three hours or less, affecting most of the incoming traffic from Europe, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with airport policy.

Officials at Frankfurt's airport, Europe's second-busiest, Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles De Gaulle in Paris said Heathrow-bound planes could instead land at their airports if they needed to.

London's Heathrow airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground.

The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207682,00.html

SteelCityMan786 · 08-10-2006, 10:11 AM

Way to sniff out the terroism Great Britain. I see some terroism plots can't be done.

Mosca · 08-10-2006, 10:33 AM

Here's to everyone who worked to stop this evil before it could strike.

Tom

SteelCityMan786 · 08-10-2006, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mosca

Here's to everyone who worked to stop this evil before it could strike.

Tom

Cheers.

CAH · 08-10-2006, 06:17 PM

Great Britain did a great job.

MasterOfPuppets · 08-11-2006, 01:18 AM

no comment litp??? you called the last terrorist attack on the UK an isolated incident...what say you now???

Thanks for that.

I haven't seen a crazed rant by a 'mad mullah' for at least...ummm....24 hours now.

While there is political gain to be made with extereme minorities by attacking Israel in this way there will always be one of these charcters to come out of the woodwork.

There is a platform for this type of crap to be voiced because of the situation between Palestinians and Israeli's - and its a two way street.

If you remove at least some of the source of animosity then you take away the public support for this type of meaningless rhetoric.

[B]If you consider how many times the US and UK have been attacked since a 'Jihad' was declared against us it would seem that most of these speeches are basically empty threats.

Will every Muslim 'rise up and attack all participant countries'?

The answer is no.

As I say, its empty posturing.[/B]

doesn't seem so empty now...

HometownGal · 08-11-2006, 10:04 AM

A BIG THANK YOU to Great Britain and Scotland Yard for putting a stop to what could have been yet another mass destruction of innocent lives at the hands of those consumed by hatred and perceived martyrdom.

God Bless the UK and God Bless America!

Livinginthe past · 08-11-2006, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets

no comment litp??? you called the last terrorist attack on the UK an isolated incident...what say you now???

Thanks for that.

I haven't seen a crazed rant by a 'mad mullah' for at least...ummm....24 hours now.

While there is political gain to be made with extereme minorities by attacking Israel in this way there will always be one of these charcters to come out of the woodwork.

There is a platform for this type of crap to be voiced because of the situation between Palestinians and Israeli's - and its a two way street.

If you remove at least some of the source of animosity then you take away the public support for this type of meaningless rhetoric.

[B]If you consider how many times the US and UK have been attacked since a 'Jihad' was declared against us it would seem that most of these speeches are basically empty threats.

Will every Muslim 'rise up and attack all participant countries'?

The answer is no.

As I say, its empty posturing.[/B]

doesn't seem so empty now...

I was actually waiting for a few more of the facts to come to light before I jumped in.

At this minute we have conflicting reports as to exactly how many people were involved in this conspiracy and how many are still at large.

We also have no information regarding how far advanced these plans were and how close they were to being brought into action.

I still stand by my opinion that these incidents are isolated in their nature and frequency - its not as if we are thwarting the best paid plans of terrorists every couple of weeks.

It also seems to co-incidence to me that this potential terrorist attack has been attempted during the heated conflict in Lebanon - where the US and UK continue to try and play the role of diplomats whilst strongly taking the side of one of the participants.

I'll await further details before I go into more detail and leave the knee jerk reactions to people like yourself.

NM

***tony hipchest*** · 08-11-2006, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Livinginthe past

I was actually waiting for a few more of the facts to come to light before I jumped in.

At this minute we have conflicting reports as to exactly how many people were involved in this conspiracy and how many are still at large.

We also have no information regarding how far advanced these plans were and how close they were to being brought into action.

I still stand by my opinion that these incidents are isolated in their nature and frequency - its not as if we are thwarting the best paid plans of terrorists every couple of weeks.

It also seems to co-incidence to me that this potential terrorist attack has been attempted during the heated conflict in Lebanon - where the US and UK continue to try and play the role of diplomats whilst strongly taking the side of one of the participants.

I'll await further details before I go into more detail and leave the knee jerk reactions to people like yourself.

NM

well im glad your country had a more pro active response than the one you seem to display. you must think it is the muslim terrorists right to make these plans and no crime is committed until people actually die. intercepted transmissions from pakistan instructed them to "do it now". plane tickets were found suggesting a dry run last weds or thurs (yesterday) and the actual date of attack was gonna be next wednesday. since i watched this on the news (cnn) i wont bother providing a link. you will only believe it when you come across all the facts on your own anyways.

Livinginthe past · 08-11-2006, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

well im glad your country had a more pro active response than the one you seem to display. you must think it is the muslim terrorists right to make these plans and no crime is committed until people actually die. intercepted transmissions from pakistan instructed them to "do it now". plane tickets were found suggesting a dry run last weds or thurs (yesterday) and the actual date of attack was gonna be next wednesday. since i watched this on the news (cnn) i wont bother providing a link. you will only believe it when you come across all the facts on your own anyways.

Of course I dont feel that people have to die before a crime is committed.

We have had a number of botched anti-terrorist operations in the UK over the last few months - that have resulted in the murder of a completely innocent Brazilian citizen and and a non-terrorist Muslim being shot by 'accident'.

Its kinda hard to not look pro-active when I compare myself to someone who thinks a religious armageddon is unavoidable and all thats left to do is pick which side you're going to be on.

NM

08-10-2006, 07:26 AM	#1
83-Steelers-43 Living Legend Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 12,993 Gender: Male Member Number: 1009 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted London Police Disrupt Terrorist Plot to Blow Up Aircraft in Mid-Flight Thursday, August 10, 2006 LONDON — Authorities in Britain disrupted a "serious" terrorist plan to blow up as many as six airplanes simultaneously in mid-flight on their way from Britain to the United States, FOX News learned Thursday. The "loss of life to innocent civilians would have been on unprecedented scale” had the plan been carried out, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid said. The plot would have seen terrorists smuggling liquid explosives — that could be missed by x-rays during screening — onto planes via carry-on luggage, security sources told Sky News. British officials quickly banned hand luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights and raised security to the country's highest level — suggesting a terrorist attack could be imminent. But a top Scotland Yard official was confident the plot had been foiled, confirming 21 suspects were in custody. "We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we've prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," said Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson. Reid said the police were confident the "main players" were among the 21 arrested. Officials on the condition of anonymity said there could be up to 50 people involved in the plot. However, Stephenson, nor Reid, commented on that. "We have been very successful in arresting those we were targeting but this is a lengthy operation, and no doubt there will be further developments," Stephenson said. Those arrested were mainly young, British-born Asian men, Sky News reported. The terrorists were targeting United, American, Continental airlines, two U.S. counterterrorism officials say. But anonymous sources later told FOX News that British airlines were also being targeted. A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California, all major summer tourist destinations. One British police spokesman said the attacks were planned to happen at the same time. "These were (to be) simultaneous attacks on multiple targets, targeting aircraft bound for the United States," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with force policy. The country's police anti-terrorist chief, Peter Clarke, said the investigation — which reportedly culminated over several months — reached a critical point Wednesday night, and forces realized urgent action needed to be taken. “We have been looking at meetings, movements, travel, spending and the aspirations of a large group of people," Clarke said. He said the number, destination and timing of the flights that may have been targeted remained under investigation. "As is so often the case in these investigations, the alleged plot has global dimensions." Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed President Bush on the situation overnight, Blair's office said. There was no immediate public reaction from the White House. Bush is spending a few days at his ranch near Crawford, Texas. It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a "severe risk of terrorist attacks." "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," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Chertoff added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the U.S. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled Thursday morning. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot, which "had a footprint to Al Qaeda back to it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Another U.S. source in Washington told FOX News that the plot had a "serious Al Qaeda connection." The plan involved airline passengers hiding masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said. "They were not yet sitting on an airplane," but were very close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot "the real deal." Passengers in Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among the items banned from being carried on board. Liquids, such as hair care products, were also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S., raising the possibility that authorities were searching for a liquid explosive. Huge lines formed at ticket counters and behind security barriers at Heathrow and other airports in Britain. Ed Lappen, 55, a businessman from Boston, who was traveling with his wife and daughter to Russia, found himself unable to travel further. "We're safe, we're OK," he said at Heathrow. "Now my daughter is going to get a shopping trip in London." Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the Manchester airport. Most European carriers canceled flights to Heathrow because of the massive delays created after authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most hand baggage. Heathrow's block on incoming traffic applied to flights of three hours or less, affecting most of the incoming traffic from Europe, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with airport policy. Officials at Frankfurt's airport, Europe's second-busiest, Schiphol in Amsterdam and Charles De Gaulle in Paris said Heathrow-bound planes could instead land at their airports if they needed to. London's Heathrow airport was the departure point for a devastating terrorist attack on a Pan Am airplane on Dec. 21, 1988. The blast over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people on the ground. The explosive was hidden in a portable radio which was hidden in checked baggage. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207682,00.html __________________ Last edited by 83-Steelers-43; 08-10-2006 at 07:52 AM.

08-10-2006, 10:11 AM	#2
SteelCityMan786 SF's Youngest Legend Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hollidaysburg PA Posts: 19,587 Gender: Male Member Number: 541 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted Way to sniff out the terroism Great Britain. I see some terroism plots can't be done. __________________ 786 Ways To Score Touchdowns

08-10-2006, 10:33 AM	#3
Mosca Team President Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Mountain Top, PA Posts: 2,397 Gender: Male Member Number: 1751 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted Here's to everyone who worked to stop this evil before it could strike. Tom

08-10-2006, 06:17 PM	#5
CAH Bench Warmer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: near Uniontown, PA Posts: 318 Gender: Female Member Number: 2409 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted Great Britain did a great job.

08-11-2006, 01:18 AM	#6
MasterOfPuppets Living Legend Apple Shooter Champion! Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 11,807 Gender: Male Member Number: 1990 Thanks: 14 Thanked 94 Times in 59 Posts	Re: Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted no comment litp??? you called the last terrorist attack on the UK an isolated incident...what say you now??? Thanks for that. I haven't seen a crazed rant by a 'mad mullah' for at least...ummm....24 hours now. While there is political gain to be made with extereme minorities by attacking Israel in this way there will always be one of these charcters to come out of the woodwork. There is a platform for this type of crap to be voiced because of the situation between Palestinians and Israeli's - and its a two way street. If you remove at least some of the source of animosity then you take away the public support for this type of meaningless rhetoric. [B]If you consider how many times the US and UK have been attacked since a 'Jihad' was declared against us it would seem that most of these speeches are basically empty threats. Will every Muslim 'rise up and attack all participant countries'? The answer is no. As I say, its empty posturing.[/B] doesn't seem so empty now... __________________ Benjamin Franklin : “People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both” Last edited by MasterOfPuppets; 08-11-2006 at 01:28 AM.

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08-11-2006, 10:04 AM	#7
HometownGal Living Legend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The Burgh Posts: 21,479 Gender: Female Member Number: 2413 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Mid-Air Terror Plot Thwarted A BIG THANK YOU to Great Britain and Scotland Yard for putting a stop to what could have been yet another mass destruction of innocent lives at the hands of those consumed by hatred and perceived martyrdom. God Bless the UK and God Bless America! __________________ The Anti-Wahoo

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