Courtesy of "Truthseeker" on main TB2000 board:
(WOT) UK top terror cop says detailed attack plans found
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04208325.htm LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Highly skilled and organised extremist groups have laid detailed plans to carry out attacks in Britain, the country's top anti-terrorism policeman said on Thursday.
John Bunn, commander of the anti-terrorism branch of London's Metropolitan police force, said that following arrests this year police had unearthed major plots.
He did not say what the planned attacks consisted of, or their targets, but said key infrastructure could be at risk, including some of Britain's key power and energy installations.
"What we know in terms of the threat is the sheer scale of what they are planning," he told a conference on energy security in London.
He said some suspects possessed extraordinary skill profiles which reminded him of the capabilities of Northern Ireland's IRA guerrillas when he was employed in countering their operations.
"We are not sure what the target was going to be, but it was certainly going to be to commit mass murder, in this country or abroad."
The threat of attack against Britain was real, he said.
"Generally we are at a high level of alert -- we don't have any specific intelligence to say it will happen today or tomorrow or the next day -- but there is a very high level of threat at moment," he told Reuters following the conference.
He said he was concerned about complacency, especially as the British press were unable to print details of current trials of suspects.
"It's unprecedented ... the newspapers have challenged it, but they have lost and that's one of the reasons people don't think anything is happening" in Britain, he told the conference.
Under Britain's strong contempt-of-court rules, news organisations are generally barred from printing details of criminal cases while suspects face jury trials.
There have been a number of major raids over the past two years, which were reported extensively at the time but which can no longer be discussed in the media pending the outcomes of trials.