Posted on 08/10/2006 3:00:54 AM PDT by HAL9000
Police statement on airline bombing plot
LONDON (Reuters) - Following is the full text of a statement issued by London Deputy Commissioner, Paul Stephenson on Thursday morning:
"We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction and commit mass murder.
The Commissioner has been fully briefed and he is at New Scotland Yard today. He and I want to pay tribute to officers from the Met's Anti-Terrorist Branch and the security services for the work they have undertaken to disrupt these activities.
We believe that the terrorists' aim was to smuggle explosives onto airplanes in hand luggage and to detonate these in flight.
We also believe that the intended targets were flights from the UK to the USA.
Overnight we have arrested 21 people. The majority of those arrests have been in London but we have also made arrests in Thames Valley and Birmingham. We are currently searching a number of addresses.
We are grateful to our colleagues in other force areas for their support.
As the operation got under way we spoke to community leaders to make them aware that a major anti-terrorist operation was taking place but without giving specific details about locations. This extensive dialogue will continue throughout the operation.
We would like to reassure the public that this operation was carried out with public safety upper most in our minds. This is a major operation, which will inevitably be lengthy and complex. The UK is now at the highest possible level of alert.
We will consider the threat in its wider sense and take whatever action is necessary to protect people in London and throughout the country.
Measures have already been put in place to restrict hand luggage taken onto aircraft. This will inevitably cause significant delay and we ask people to remain calm, patient and vigilant at this very difficult time.
Put simply this was a plot to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
Hmm, casualties on the ground too...I wonder if a crash into nuke sites, buildings, etc.
Also, heard this a.m. possibly 21 planes involved...seems like more info still withheld and will be released as allowable.
Especially after the Lieberman defeat and the RATs taking that as a cue to move even further to the left. They may have found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.
No worries. Sometimes the only way I can deal with the situation in the world today is to poke fun at it. Sorry you misunderstood.
Chertoff is just now outlining the "no liquids carried on" policy. Wouldn't it be smarter to have a "no Muslim passengers" policy?
Chertoff asking that people travel as lightly as possible.
The ban on liquids sounds like it could last a while.
I agree.
"While I do not think that would be "an unimaginable scale" compared to 9/11, it could easily be done."
Unless there were more than 6 planes involved, (I heard 21 on the news as a possiblity), and if all of those were used as weapons....press conference authorities used stronger language this time than I've recently heard.
Good for the Brits!
I was just thinking the same thing when I was watching the news this morning. How long until they start cracking down on the rules again here after this, and start searching little old grannies?
They just changed the rule to allow parents to wear their babies through security - ie I don't have to wake her up to take her out of the sling, hold up the people behind me, etc., now. Are they going to change this policy back, even for blonde, hair blue eyed women like myself? Because you know, my baby and I fall into that category of people they should be looking for. Oh no, wait. I'm not a 17-40 year old Muslim man.
And seriously, I hope when we fly to the UK at Christmas I don't have to taste test my breastmilk to prove its not a liquid explosive. I don't mind doing the smell test to make sure it hasn't gone off, but I really don't want to have to drink it.
Hey you! I'll get you for that.:^D
Good to see you FRiend, long time - no see.
They said the same thing on NBC this morning. The MSM knows it is on notice and the new media is keeping a close watch on them. They HAVE to report that the perps are muslim. This is just too big not too.
I agree, whatever this new liquid explosive is there are plenty of other countries that fly to the US that aren't as vigilant as our brothers the Brits.
Like France....
It doesn't sound like they were going to be able to gain control of the planes to target specific nuke sites or buildings, they would just blow them up while over heavily populated areas at relatively low altitudes...
How many airplanes? How can this be labeled unimaginable scale? How many people on an airplane? OVer 3,000? I'm not downlplaying it...but that's a bit exagerated isn't it? Was it more than one place perhaps?
"Chertoff asking that people travel as lightly as possible.
The ban on liquids sounds like it could last a while."
I agree.
Regarding: "UNITED WE STAND!"
The reality is that our own leaders are so divided and only interested in their political longevity and not the safety of their country, that I think the sad news will evevtually be seen:
Divided we fall...
So this new(er) focus on liquids.....wonder if the jihadi's were going to use incendiary devices, flammables, etc...?
Yup! Especially with those eight "Egyptian students" still AWOL!!
sw
OK...guess I spoke too soon.....over 10 planes certainly qualifies. Retracting previous post.
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