Posted on 08/11/2006 10:22:47 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON - British officials Friday identified 19 of the suspects accused of planning to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft in the biggest terrorist plot to be uncovered since 9/11. In Pakistan, officials reported signs of an al-Qaida connection and said they had detained a "key person" in the case.
Travelers saw shorter lines at airports as flight schedules slowly returned to normal, one day after the disclosure of the alleged conspiracy severely disrupted British air traffic.
British police have arrested 24 people suspected of involvement in the plot. At least one was reportedly a woman with a small child; two others were converts to Islam. One of the suspects reportedly worked at Heathrow Airport.
The Bank of England said it had frozen the accounts of 19 people arrested Thursday. The men, ranging in age from 17 to 35, had Muslim names, many of them common in Pakistan. Pakistani officials said they were British-born.
In addition, five Pakistanis have been arrested in Pakistan as suspected "facilitators" of the plot, a government official said, as well as two Britons arrested there about a week ago. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry named British national Rashid Rauf as a "key person" under arrest.
The ministry statement said there were "indications of Afghanistan-based al-Qaida connection" in the case, but did not elaborate.
Investigators, describing a plot on the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said the planners sought to use common electronic devices to detonate liquid explosives to bring down as many as 10 planes.
The bombs were to be assembled aboard the aircraft, apparently with peroxide-based solution and everyday carry-on items such as a disposable camera or a music player, two American law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.
A federal law enforcement official in Washington said at least one martyrdom tape was found during raids across England on Thursday. Such a tape, as well as the scheme to strike a range of targets at roughly the same time, is a hallmark of al-Qaida.
British Home Secretary John Reid said Britain was grateful for Pakistan's cooperation and that officials believed the main suspects were in custody. However, the threat level in the U.K. remained at "critical," the highest level.
Agents in Pakistan arrested at least seven people, including two British nationals of Pakistani origin who provided information on the terror plot, a senior government official said Friday. The arrests were made in the eastern city of Lahore and in Karachi, the official said on condition of anonymity because he did not have the authority to speak formally on the issue.
Two were Britons arrested about a week ago, he said. The five Pakistanis were arrested on suspicion they served as local "facilitators" for the two Britons, the official said. It wasn't clear when they were detained.
The Guardian newspaper, citing unidentified British government sources, said after the first two arrests were made in Pakistan, a message was sent to Britain telling the plotters: "Do your attacks now." That message was intercepted and decoded earlier this week, The Guardian said.
A U.S. congressman briefed by intelligence officials, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said U.S. intelligence had intercepted terrorist chatter.
Authorities pressed ahead Friday with efforts to smash the purported terror ring. Two U.S. officials said British, U.S. and Pakistani investigators were trying to trace the steps of the suspects in Pakistan and determine whether some of them attended terrorist training camps there.
Police would not say where the suspects were being held _ which is not unusual in highly sensitive cases _ but terrorist suspects are usually brought to the high-security Paddington Green police station, in central London.
British law permits terrorist suspects to be interrogated for up to 28 days without being charged, although after the first 48 hours court permission is required for further detention.
Airline passengers faced a second day of disruptions and disappointment as airports struggled to restore flight schedules.
"It is going to be another difficult day today, both for airports and for passengers, but there is cause for optimism that we will get more flights off today," said Stephen Nelson, chief executive of British Airports Authority, which runs Britain's major airports.
At Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, around 70 percent of flights were running, and most inbound flights arrived on time, although flights from the United States _ which increased security measures in the wake of the threat _ were heavily delayed.
The raids in Britain on Thursday followed a monthslong investigation, but U.S. intelligence officials said authorities moved quickly after learning the plotters hoped to stage a practice run within two days, with the actual attack expected just days after that.
The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Targeted were United, American and Continental flights from Britain to major U.S. destinations, which counterterrorism officials said probably included New York, Los Angeles and Washington. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the individuals plotted to detonate liquid explosive devices on as many as 10 aircraft.
A British police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if all were British citizens.
Tariq Azim Khan, the Pakistani minister of state for information, said "these people were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. Some of them may have parents who were immigrants from Pakistan."
The raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Police still guarded homes in High Wycombe, where the Muslim community expressed outrage that their community and children have been thrust into the international spotlight.
"They are considered ordinary British Muslims and they haven't caused any harm to anyone," accountant Mohammed Naeem said of the suspects. "They come from decent families."
Naeem said the Muslim community supports efforts to promote security, but that the police have acted on faulty intelligence in the past. He cited a recent raid in London in which police were forced to apologize for shooting an innocent Muslim man.
Many of the suspects arrested in Britain were said to be British Muslims, and neighbors said at least two were converts to Islam.
Imtiaz Qadir, of the Waltham Forest Islamic Association, said one of the suspects was a woman in her 20s who had a 6-month-old child. "They have taken the child too, because it needs to be with its mother."
Neighbors identified another suspect as Don Stewart-Whyte, 21, from High Wycombe, a convert who changed his name to Abdul Waheed.
"He converted to Islam about six months ago and grew a full beard," said a neighbor, who refused to be identified. "He used to smoke weed and drink a lot, but he is completely different now."
Ibrahim Savant of Walthamstow, one of the names on the Bank of England list, was a convert formerly known as Oliver, neighbors said.
New security measures banning liquids and gels on flights remained in place Friday.
"I quite understand all the checks. I know why they have got to do it," said Elaine Loman, who was hoping to catch a flight from Heathrow to Barcelona, Spain.
The threat of liquid explosives led to a ban on carrying nearly any kind of fluid aboard an aircraft. Mothers tasted baby bottles in front of airport security guards to prove it contained milk or formula _ not a component of an explosive.
Associated Press Writers Pat Milton and Tom Hays in New York, Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington, Jay Lindsay in Boston and Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
"He converted to Islam about six months ago and grew a full beard," said a neighbor, who refused to be identified. "He used to smoke weed and drink a lot, but he is completely different now."
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Abdul Waheed ,, make that Abdul Waheed
He should have kept his day job.
Neighbors identified another suspect as Don Stewart-Whyte, 21, from High Wycombe, a convert who changed his name to Abdul Waheed.
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Just another of the many reasons I am in TOTAL SUPPORT of profiling these maggots. They all do, so far, come in a similar wrapper. So let's quit focusing on 80 year old, white-haired little ladies, and jump on the obvious perps.
"He converted to Islam about six months ago and grew a full beard," said a neighbor, who refused to be identified. "He used to smoke weed and drink a lot, but he is completely different now."
***
Trust me, folks, the change was not for the better.
can't do that or at least so say some of the what I suspect are nothing more than ACLU and CAIR sympathizers and/or operatives that post here.
Misleading headline alert!!
They were put out last night.. 19 of them , anway
Bank of England names 19 terror suspects
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681646/posts
Bank of England names 19 terror suspects
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/10/06 | AP
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681646/posts
Posted on 08/10/2006 9:33:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON - The Bank of England froze the assets of 19 people early Friday, naming them as people arrested Thursday in connection with an alleged terror plot to bomb British passenger jets.
"On the advice of the police and security services, the Treasury has instructed the Bank of England to issue notices to effect a freeze of the assets of a number of individuals arrested in yesterday's operations," a Treasury statement said.
Most of those named in the list were London residents, and many bore Muslim names.
Scotland Yard had no immediate comment.
The bank released the following names: Abdula Ahmed Ali, Cossor Ali, Shazad Khuram Ali, Nabeel Hussain, Tanvir Hussain, Umair Hussain, Umar Islam, Waseem Kayani, Assan Abdullah Khan, Waheed Arafat Khan, Osman Adam Khatib, Abdul Muneem Patel, Tayib Rauf, Muhammed Usman Saddique, Assad Sarwar, Ibrahim Savant, Amin Asmin Tariq, Shamin Mohammed Uddin, and Waheed Zaman..
The oldest person on the list, Shamin Mohammed Uddin, is 35. The youngest, Abdul Muneem Patel, is 17.
Good job, Bank of England!
Was George Galloway named? I've been catching bits and pieces that suggest he may have a connection to at least one of the islamderthals but I haven't seen anything concrete.
The UK Sun had a piece on that angle, he denies any such connection.
Suspect 'met Galloway' (London plot) ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681656/posts
Thank ya kindly.
Meanwhile in the USA we find three more middle eastern men with a car load of cell phones. (not the same bunch as the other day.
http://www.wnem.com/Global/story.asp?S=5269589
They said they were going to Bad Axe Mi and planning to sell the phones. There aren't enbough people in bad axe to sell that many phones too. I suspect that they were going to Detroit.
Thanks for adding the link to the other story. Since they were opening the cartons and sorting the phones from the batteries and chargers, it would seem that they had another use in mind for the phones.
I had heard a report that the phones had had a certain chip removed,
Dearbornistan needds a good delousing, imo.
The Pakistani ISI claim to have cooperated in this and indeed appear to have facilitated a few arrests. That having been written, I find it odd that the same ISI who have long supported Abu Sayyaf and were strongly suspected in their role in Bojinka, would be "good cops" in truth.
Thank You
I don't know which group frightens me more, people with hyphenated names or people with Islamofascist names.
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