Posted on 08/17/2006 4:59:22 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON - Police searching woods for clues in an alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic passenger jets have found a suitcase containing components for an improvised explosive device, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Thursday.
The BBC quoted an anonymous police source as saying a suitcase holding "everything you would need to make an improvised device" had been uncovered in a stretch of woodland in High Wycombe, 30 miles northwest of London. The wood is near the home of one of two dozen suspects arrested Aug. 10 in connection with the foiled bomb plot.
The Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the BBC report, saying it could not discuss anything found during the searches, which reportedly have uncovered several firearms and other items of interest.
Police said Thursday they were searching 14 homes and businesses and had searched 49 locations since the Aug. 10 raids in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham, central England.
On Wednesday, a judge gave police several more days to question 23 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot.
The judge said 21 of the suspects could be detained until at least Aug. 23, and two others until at least Aug. 21, before any new request is made to a judge.
Under British anti-terrorism laws, detectives can make further requests to detain suspects for up to 28 days before they must be charged or released.
Service returned almost to normal at British airports Thursday, a week after they were thrown into chaos by the terrorist alert.
British Airways, the worst-affected airline, said it had almost cleared a backlog of 5,000 pieces of luggage separated from their owners amid hundreds of delayed and canceled flights. The airline canceled 19 short-haul services from Heathrow Airport Thursday, and said it planned to operate a full service on Friday.
British officials said Thursday that negotiations were under way to extradite to London a British Muslim who Pakistani authorities claim colluded with al-Qaida leaders over the bomb plot.
Authorities said negotiations were continuing with Pakistan over the extradition of Rashid Rauf, a 29-year-old who holds both British and Pakistani passports, but acknowledged discussions were likely to take at least several days.
Pakistani investigators say Rauf, arrested Aug. 9 in the city of Bhawalpur, planned the alleged bomb plot and recruited people in both Britain and Pakistan to carry it out.
Detectives in Britain have refused to comment on claims by Pakistani officials that Rauf had intended bombings to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official told The Associated Press that Rauf was operating under an al-Qaida mastermind whom he declined to name.
Rauf moved from Birmingham to Pakistan in 2002, but authorities there say he maintained close contact with two younger brothers who remained in Britain. His 22-year-old brother, Tayib, is among those in British custody.
In Birmingham, public dissent was growing Thursday over the lack of information about the alleged plot and the fact that police have yet to bring charges against the suspects.
"The Metropolitan Police said they had chilling evidence, but if they have the evidence, why is it so difficult to prove," said Mohammed Naseem, chairman of Birmingham's Central Mosque.
Britain's interior minister, Home Secretary John Reid, said police and government had attempted to balance providing information to the public with the fear of prejudicing any future court proceedings. But he said Wednesday there was evidence of a "substantial nature" against many of the suspects.
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told the AP that Reid called him Thursday to thank him for Pakistan's help "in foiling the London terror plot."
In Wales, police said they had not ruled out a link between the arrest Friday of a 47-year-old man and 44-year-old woman on suspicion of terrorism at Holyhead Port — terminus for ferries to Ireland — and the alleged jetliner plot.
___
Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad and Paul Garwood in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Rob Harris, in Birmingham, England, contributed to this report.
Another mere coincidence
--
One anonymous source is as good as the next, even if it is from the BBC, I guess. so here this is.. for your consideration.
nothing to see here, move along... move along...
That too,,, beat me to it, ;-)
I don't understand why the people arrested last week have not been charged with anything.
"The Metropolitan Police said they had chilling evidence, but if they have the evidence, why is it so difficult to prove," said Mohammed Naseem, chairman of Birmingham's Central Mosque.
Deny, obfuscate, question.
Never exibit rightious indignation that a member of your
own religion had attempted to kill in your name.
Muslims! Baaaaah!
Because under UK terror law since 2000, they can hold them for 28 days without charging them with anything. So they'll wait for the last minute, if they can, just to prevent as long as possible the likely scenario of activist uberliberal UK courts from letting them go free.
When I was a kid, (about 1969) I found a suitcase in the woods near my house. It had women's underwear and a Playboy magazine in it. Funny how I still remember that.
parsy, who had forgotton all about that suitcase, and the girl on the merry go round horse.
Watch the DUmmies claim it was planted by Rove.
All a Zionist plot!! </sarc>
HEAD KNIGHT:
We shall say 'ni' again to you if you do not appease us.
ARTHUR:
Well, what is it you want?
HEAD KNIGHT:
We want... a suitcase!
[dramatic chord]
ARTHUR:
A what?
KNIGHTS OF NI:
Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!
ARTHUR and PARTY:
Ow! Oh!
ARTHUR:
Please! Please! No more! We will find you a suitcase.
HEAD KNIGHT:
You must return here with a suitcase, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive.
ARTHUR:
O Knights of Ni, you are just and fair, and we will return with a suitcase.
HEAD KNIGHT:
One that looks nice.
ARTHUR:
Of course.
HEAD KNIGHT:
And not too expensive.
ARTHUR:
Yes.
HEAD KNIGHT:
And fill it with c-4 , some detonators and a cell phone.
ARTHUR:
A What?
Knights in unison :
Ni! Ni!
Arthur:
As you wish o, Knights of Ni.
Head Knight:
Now ...........Go!
The question is, when are they gonna arrest the OTHER 50,000 Muslim terrorist sympathizers in London?
They said on the news a couple of days ago, they were searching the woods near two of the suspects homes because they thought they had been setting off "practice" bombs there.
I don't have a suspicious suitcase, but my wallet is a bit paranoid.
You had a sleeper cell in the neighborhood!
Yeah. I think there was bushes in our woods.
parsy, the naive.
Suitcase full of bomb equipment found by police
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1686126/posts
Times On Line (UK) ^ | August 18, 2006 | Stewart Tendler, Sean O’Neill and Zahid Hussain
Posted on 08/18/2006 2:38:40 PM PDT by WmShirerAdmirer
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