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Britain on maximum terror alert after bomb plot foiled
A jet takes off from London's Heathrow Airport Tuesday June 6, 2006. Authorities in London thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up an aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the U.S. using explosives.
By Lachlan Carmichael
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 08 10 06British police said Thursday that they had foiled a plot to blow up planes flying between Britain and the United States, and put the country on its highest state of alert for terror attacks.
Home Secretary John Reid said the plot was "very significant" and designed to "bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life."
Scotland Yard believed it to "be a major threat to the UK and international partners," Reid added, referring to the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police.
Police said the plot involved hiding explosive devices in hand baggage and that many arrests had been made, although the number was unclear.
The anti-terror operation was undertaken "with the full support" of Prime Minister Tony Blair who is on vacation in the Caribbean and who has briefed US President George W. Bush about it, Blair's office said.
Airport security was tightened as the national alert level was raised to "critical" from "severe," where it had been since security was relaxed in the weeks after the terrorist bombings in London on July 7 last year.
Critical means that a plot is highly likely.
Reid said the police anti-terror operation would mean major disruption at all airports throughout the United Kingdom.
However, he added: "As far as is possible we want people to go about their business as normal."
Security was ordered to be tightened at British airports, where departing passengers were not allowed hand baggage except articles placed in transparent bags.
"It's chaotic," the BBC's Fiona Bruce reported from London's main Heathrow Airport. "It's absolutely packed inside, you can hardly move."
She added that nobody was in the check-in area at all.
The plan was uncovered after a joint operation by the Yard's anti-terrorist branch and the security services that lasted several months, the Metropolitan Police said earlier.
Reid said the alert level was raised to "critical," its highest level, at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) Thursday by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.
"This is now being publicly announced as I promised to parliament last month," he said. "This is a precautionary measure. We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist activity.
"This will mean major disruption at all UK airports from today. But as far as is possible we want people to go about their business as normal."
Last year, four suicide bombers killed a total of 56 people in coordinated attacks on three London Underground trains and a bus, the worst terror attack on British soil.
Reid had said Wednesday that Britain faces "the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of World War II."
He said that while the security services would deliver 100 percent effort and dedication, they could not guarantee a 100 percent success rate in fighting terrorism.
"We are probably in the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of World War II," Reid said in a speech to the Demos think-tank.
"Our security forces and the apparatus of the state provide a very necessary condition for defeating terrorism but can never be sufficient to do so on their own."
He also warned of "insecurity in the heart of our communities."
AFP 10 0712 GMT 08 06
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