Posted on 08/11/2006 5:36:22 PM PDT by blam
Police Eye Money Trail in Airliner Plot
Saturday August 12, 2006 12:46 AM
By JENNIFER QUINN and PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press Writers
LONDON (AP) - Investigators on three continents worked to fill in the full, frightening picture Friday of a plot to blow U.S. jetliners out of the Atlantic skies, tracking the money trail and seizing more alleged conspirators in the teeming towns of eastern Pakistan.
One arrested there, a Briton named Rashid Rauf, is believed to have been the operational planner and to have connections with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistani and U.S. officials said.
British and Pakistani authorities have arrested as many as 41 people in the two countries in connection with the alleged suicidal plan, broken up by British police this week, to detonate disguised liquid explosives aboard as many as 10 planes bound from Britain to the United States.
``The terrorists intended a second Sept. 11,'' said Frances Fragos Townsend, White House homeland security adviser.
New information underlined how close they were to mounting attacks.
After the first arrests in Pakistan some days ago, word went from Pakistan to the London plotters to move ahead quickly, a message intercepted by an intelligence agency, a U.S. official disclosed on condition of anonymity. That prompted British police to move in on the conspirators, long under watch.
British Home Secretary John Reid told reporters officials were confident the main suspects in the plot were in custody. But authorities ``would go where any further evidence takes us,'' he said.
``I think it's pretty clear that in this case, we don't have everybody,'' Townsend told The Associated Press in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Ooooohohoho they got the operational planner, the middle manager. That ought to be a treasure trove of intelligence.
Break out the hot irons...
Ah, and the media here so wanted al Qaida to be falsely accused! Hope this shuts up the anti Homeland security crowd for a day or two, but I won't hold my breath.
It is my understanding one of the "masterminds" of the plot is still out there. Also supposedly a neighbor who was also a Muslim reported this suspicious activity which is what originally drew attention to this matter.
Doesn't look like the NY Times was able to warn the terrorist's ahead of time.
Maybe they have never heard of Dearborn, MI.
i wonder if anybody shorted American, Contenintal and United in the last week???
Yes indeed. Makes ya kind of want to punch 'em in the nose, don't it? The liberal loons and their cohorts may not be AS dangerous as terrorists, or regimes such as Iran and N. Korea, etc., but they're sure on my short list.
I think that's more than a little far fetched.
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