We could fly them back home in this.....:)
Posted on 08/12/2006 8:51:30 PM PDT by GMMAC
Terror message prompted authorities to act fast
Ian MacLeod and Steven Shukor
CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, August 12, 2006
LONDON -- A message intercepted from Pakistan this week -- "Do your attacks now" convinced British officials to urgently arrest 24 Britons allegedly planning suicide bombing missions aboard up to 10 U.S.-bound airliners, say security intelligence and British government officials.
The message, intercepted and decoded by U.S. intelligence, is one of several pieces of information that indicate a deepening Pakistani connection to the suspected plot.
The Pakistan government on Friday named Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani origin arrested near the Afghan border last week, as a "key person" in the alleged plot and said there were indications of an "Afghanistan-based al-Qaida connection."
"He is an al-Qaida operative with linkages in Afghanistan," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Friday.
Another Briton and six Pakistani men were also arrested. In custody, the two Britons provided information on the alleged terror operation, another senior Pakistan government official said.
Soon after, the four-word attack message was sent to Britain instructing the alleged plotters to commence the final stage of the operation.
British Home Secretary John Reid said Britain was grateful for Pakistan's co-operation and that officials believed the main suspects were in custody.
However, he called for solidarity "across all sections of the community" in the face of the "immense" terrorist threat facing the country.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, in charge while British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on holiday, urged people to stay alert. "The threat level is critical, so people should remain vigilant," he said in a televised statement.
The terrorist threat level in Britain remains at "critical," the highest level and the U.S. is at its maximum aviation alert level for flights arriving from Britain.
Hundreds more flights were cancelled or delayed in Britain Friday, but airlines said there were far fewer problems than Thursday as passengers complied with new security measures. They warned of continued delays and disruption amid heightened security measures, including severe restrictions on the contents of carry-on luggage that officials said could be in place for months or indefinitely.
In Canada, delays at Canadian airports were down to a minimum by Friday, despite stiff new security measures. And they won't be lifted anytime soon.
"These measures are in place to stay for now," Canadian Air Transport Security Authority president Jacques Duchesneau told a news conference Friday.
Duchesneau said Canadian authorities did not over-react to the alleged bomb plot, which led to banning liquids and gels from carry-on baggage. The plot allegedly involved liquid explosives.
Duchesneau said there is currently no direct threat to people boarding planes in Canada.
Nineteen of the individuals arrested in and around London and Birmingham early Thursday were identified Friday when the Bank of England announced it was freezing their financial assets.
Most are Muslim men, aged 17 to 35. At least one is a woman, the wife of another suspect, with a small child; two or three others are said to be recent converts to Islam. Another is believed to have worked at London's Heathrow airport, where the targeted U.S. airliners were to depart.
Investigators, describing a plot on the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, said the alleged planners sought to use common electronic devices to detonate liquid explosives concealed in drink cans to bring down as many as 10 planes.
The bombs were to be assembled on the aircraft, apparently with peroxide-based solution and everyday carry-on items that could be used as detonators, such as disposable cameras and music players, two U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed Friday.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released because of continuing operational considerations and legal concerns.
The planes were to be destroyed over cities that were "primary tourist attractions," including cities such as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.
The targeted U.S. carriers have been identified as United Airlines, American Airlines and Continental. United Airline tickets dated next Wednesday, Aug. 16, were found by police at the home of one of the raided addresses.
U.S. intelligence officials said authorities moved quickly after learning of the intercepted message and that the alleged 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.
Another U.S. law enforcement official in Washington also confirmed at least one martyrdom tape was found during Thursday's arrest raids. 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.
Last month al-Qaida urged Muslims to fight those backing Israel's strikes on Lebanon and warned of attacks unless U.S. and British forces left Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported Friday that up to 50 plotters and accomplices were involved in the alleged plan, which the security services discovered from a tip-off after last summer's London subway and bus bombings.
U.S. security officials said the operation to counter the threat expanded to involve several hundred investigators on three continents. The investigators kept dozens of suspects under close surveillance for months, even as some of the alleged plotters travelled between Britain and Pakistan to raise money, find recruits and refine their scheme, the paper said.
Islamic leaders say the arrests could widen a gulf between authorities and Britain's 1.7 million Muslims. "There is a siege mentality," said Abu Mumin, manager of an east London youth organization. "We have to continually justify things that come on the news. We just want to get on with our lives and live peacefully."
There was a strong police presence Friday outside mosques during Friday prayers in the neighbourhoods in London's east end, Birmingham and High Wycombe, where the 24 suspects lived.
Police said they were on hand to protect worshippers against potential reprisals, but their main tasks involved providing a clear path for those who did not want to speak to a crush of reporters.
Most of those questioned condemned the use of violence as "terrible," while others were concerned the raids were orchestrated to turn attention away from the Middle East conflict.
At the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, once synonymous with Islamic extremism, several Muslims said the alleged conspiracy to kill thousands of innocent people had nothing to do with Islam.
"As a normal Muslim our religion, Islam, says peace," said businessman Farook Oomer, 40. "At the end of the day, I'm a family man and I want peace myself. I think it is wrong to kill an innocent person for religion, or personal or political gain."
Graphic designer Shamsul Khan, 33, said: "It is a bit horrific really. It is not right, it gives us a bad name. When they [the alleged plotters] die, they will be punished."
The imam of Walthamstow mosque, where many of the suspects live, urged the Muslim community to remain calm and assist the police in their inquiries.
In Italy, meanwhile, police have arrested 40 people in raids on Muslim gathering places in a security crackdown launched after Britain's thwarted plot.
Anti-terrorism police agents also searched homes of Pakistani immigrants as part of a joint probe with Belgian probe into suspected financing of terrorism, the Italy's interior ministry said Friday.
The Italian arrests were made in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and other cities on Thursday and Friday "aspart of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation," the ministry said in a statement. The raids were made on "Islamic gathering places, including call centres, Internet points and money transfer" offices, the ministry said.
Twenty-eight people were arrested for violating rules on residence permits and 12 were arrested for property crimes, the statement said. The raids resulted in 114 expulsion orders and found numerous irregularities at call centres, the Internet points and the money transfer offices.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2006
We could fly them back home in this.....:)
Wrong answer
"...We just want to get on with our lives and live peacefully."
Sorry bucko, your "religion" speaks of the House of War
and that peace will only come when we all submit to islam.
Well then get off your ass and help root out the scum among you!
Right on there. I believe that has been the general consensus and forecast here @ FR. A sad state of affairs, as we have many good loyal dedicated people working in our agencies but there are some in sensitive areas who think nothing of leaking for their own curious reasons.
Anyone for a Muslim-Free airline company?
Muslim gathering places?
I would like more info on what and where are these places that this report is referring to?
This is from your link
FAST FACT
The raids were made on "Islamic gathering places, including call centers, Internet points and money transfer" offices, the Interior Ministry said.
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