SHE BOMBER

Mirror ^ | 1-3-04 | Edwards, Smith, Knight

[doug from upland]

SHE BOMBER

Jan 3 2004

By Jeff Edwards, Justine Smith And Dawn Knight

A BA flight to Washington was cancelled at the last minute yesterday after an intelligence tip-off that a woman suicide bomber planned to blow up the plane over the US capital.

It was the third day running that a major security scare had hit the afternoon Flight 223 service from Heathrow to Washington.

US security services told Scotland Yard the woman - almost certainly linked to al-Qaeda - intended to hide eight to 12 ounces of plastic explosive in her vagina. She would then go to the toilet during the Boeing 747 flight, remove the material and detonate a blast that would down the aircraft.

A senior Yard source told the Daily Mirror: "Smuggling a bomb on to a plane by this method is one of our worst nightmares.

"If you do not have specific information about the suspect, it would be impossible to carry out an intimate body search of every female passenger."

The source said intelligence information indicated only that an attack was planned for "sometime over the holiday period".

Apparently, a particular BA flight number was at risk. The source added: "Because the intelligence did not identify a passenger by name, it was decided to disrupt the plot by cancelling the flights."

Defence analyst Paul Beaver said: "We have got intelligence, I am told, that there was a plan to take the aircraft and destroy it over Washington or fly it into something."

Yesterday's cancellation of the 3.05pm London-Washington service came less than two hours before take-off time.

BA had already checked in most of the 180 passengers for a plane that can take 490 when full. After advice and deliberation, the firm aborted flight 223 at 1.15pm.

The same flight had been grounded on Thursday after the US intelligence was passed to the Yard.

And on Wednesday, the afternoon service to Washington was escorted in to Dulles airport by F-16 fighter jets. The pilot was ordered to taxi to a spot far from the terminal, where the terrified 247 passengers were detained for three hours without being told why. Security officers questioned travellers, paying particular interest to a woman who appeared Arabic. Nobody was arrested.

Fears of another September 11 attack have heightened in recent weeks and prompted controversial British government plans to put armed air marshals on some flights.

Yesterday BA apologised to passengers who had checked in for the inconvenience, but did not tell them of the specific threat.

A statement said: "Following the latest advice from the UK Government received this afternoon, British Airways has cancelled today's flight BA223 from London Heathrow to Washington due to security reasons.

"It is expected that other flights across the British Airways network will operate as normal today."

Keith Holeman, 47, trying to get home to Alabama via Washington after a holiday in the UK with his wife and children, said: "We've been given no extra information, and we don't know what we're risking."

Defence expert Beaver spoke of a "real threat" as news emerged of the latest flight 223 scare. He said: "This is certainly unusual. The intelligence is very, very precise, which is why this one flight has been cancelled.

"Washington is the definite target. All I know is there is a real and definite threat."

Mr Beaver said al-Qaeda was known to have cells in America and one in Europe, either in London or Paris. The US revealed more details about the drama at Dulles early on New Year's Day as flight 223 passengers were kept on the runway following the fighter escort.

A security official said the decision was based on facts, not just suspicions over passenger names. He said: "We had concerns with individuals on the flight, but threat-reporting information led us to make the decision to have the flight escorted.

The official stressed it was "fact-related" and not just connected to the passenger list the US now receives from airlines flying in.

An Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles, believed numbered 223, had also been cancelled after US authorities refused to allow it to land.

Passengers from Thursday's aborted trip were transferred to alternative flights, but only after rigorous security screening.

Three Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles were cancelled just before Christmas over fears of an al-Qaeda hijack plot. However one of the suspicious names on the passenger list which triggered alarm turned out to be a Welsh insurance agent.

Another, feared to be a Tunisian terror leader, was in fact a child.

A third was an elderly Chinese woman and the other three were French citizens.

BA was yesterday struggling to find alternative transport for the passengers left stranded in London. William Mallett, 38, his wife, Cathy Lewis and their son Jack, from Ashford, Middlesex, were making their way through passport control as the news came.

Mrs Lewis said: "The staff said they wouldn't be checking us in unless there was a very good chance the flight was going to go."

Mr Mallett, a transport consultant now living with his family in Arlington, Virginia, said: "I have been telling myself that if they are paying attention to this flight in particular, that is a good thing.

"But if there was a terrorist aboard would they shoot us down?"

Some stranded passengers were told BA could not accommodate them all.

A letter from the airline to travellers trying to check in at Heathrow on a later flight said: "Please accept sincere apologies for the disruption to your travel arrangements.

"We have prioritised passengers who were booked on the cancelled BA223 yesterday (Thursday)."

The British Airports Authority said there did not appear to be a problem with flight 223 passengers, but the flight itself.

A spokeswoman said: "It's the scheduled flight, not the passengers, that is causing the security delays." Today's BA flight from Heathrow to Saudi capital Riyadh and the return trip have been scrapped for security reasons.

Home Secretary David Blunkett held talks with US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday to discuss ways to minimise disruption on flights to America.

The Home Office said the talks had been "very useful", but no specific plans had emerged during the telephone conversation.

-A CHILEAN was removed from a Madrid-Luton flight on Thursday night after he started talking loudly about the "end of the world".

He was later found with two penknives which had escaped screening detection. The man was taken into custody for questioning. The flight took off at 10.30pm, an hour later than scheduled.

Voice of Mirror: Page 6

To: All

The tendency for Freepers to have a little fun with irreverent replies goes back a long way. The tradition of FR being a site that anyone can invite their friends or relatives to also goes back a long time.

Some of the replies on this thread crossed the line of what's acceptable. They were removed. In spite of that, some of you continued to push the envelope. That is why this thread was locked.

When it is unlocked, please remember where you are and post accordingly

Sidebar Moderator

[freedumb2003]

intended to hide eight to 12 ounces of plastic explosive in her vagina.

Well, after Reid we have to take off our shoes. With this new threat?????

OK, I got here first -- that should end the giggly side of the responses

[Petronski]

A cunning plan with no reasonable countermeasure.

[Redcloak]

I just hate threads like this. Dozens of comments come to mind, but all of them would get the thread pulled!

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
49 locations total		$7,618	196	$38.87	16,801	$0.45	$8,622.81	545

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[Maigrey]

Yikes! What a bloody mess!

[cyncooper]

Thanks. I appreciate your posting this, though the Mirror is not very reliable, IMO. Still this ties in the stories before Christmas about a potential female suicide bomber, and we know al Qaeda is fond of completing a mission that was not accomplished to their satisfaction so D.C. as a target is most certainly believable.

Flight 223 just took off a little while ago after a very long delay due to extensive security checking.

[gitmo]

'twould be a cunning stunt.

[doug from upland]

Defence analyst Paul Beaver
=====================================

Of course.

[freedumb2003]

Defence analyst Paul Beaver

ROTFLOL!

How was Puget Sound?

[doug from upland]

It was a great trip. Fortunately, while we were there, there were only a few sprinkles. It was very cold, however. We were told that it snowed on Oak Harbor the night we left.

[Lawdoc]

Talk about packing heat!

[Xphantasos]

8^)

a "stunning" comment!

[Grampa Dave]

"intended to hide eight to 12 ounces of plastic explosive in her vagina"

Ounces or some other measurement?

[freedumb2003]

Figgers. In the Pac NW you can only be dissapointed. When its great, ite one of the best places on earth. But if you try to plan that way, you get drizzle (or rain, or sprinkles, or any of the 47+ names they have for water from the sky).

[Peach]

Check out this info about a female bomber.

[Dog]

Cyn ....Paul Beaver is VERY Reliable..

[freedumb2003]

Ounces or some other measurement?

Well, they could measure it like they do tequila.....

[Peach]

How do we prevent this?

[Dog]

Has to be a Chechen....

[Thinkin' Gal]

A cunning plan with no reasonable countermeasure.

Fly Virgin Atlantic.

[Aliska]

And what's to prevent the other sex running some of the stuff up his you know what?

Can 8 to 12 oz bring down a plane? If you have two or more collaborators on a flight, you up the explosive power.

What a security nightmare.

[woofie]

They need to probe deeper into this plot

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm curious to know how much damage 12oz of that type of explosive could do.

[Dog]

Come folks....you mind.....the Mods will pull this thread.

[MissAmericanPie]

I mean to the plane of course.

[Redcloak]

I hope that you appreciate how difficult this thread is for some of us.

[KMG365]

Paul Beaver, Keith Holeman, aborted flight, Middlesex...

[JeepInMazar]

The new Islamic bomb?

[Dog]

Well you can contain yourself....I know its very difficult...but try.

[doug from upland]

I am pretty sure this was from a test of 10 ozs of C4 in a pressurized cabin of 35,000 feet comparable pressure.

[bluefish]

I just hate threads like this. Dozens of comments come to mind, but all of them would get the thread pulled!

You just have to be clever and subtle, like Petronski.

[Grampa Dave]

"Fertile" ground here. Tread carefully with any of your remarks!:)

[Petronski]

[blush]

[Maigrey]

Plastique -sniffing dog? If it goes after a certain body part, make'em shower. (gotta be because of a lack of bath!)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Vindication for one of Alabama's laws?

[cyncooper]

Thanks for that information.

I felt compelled to say I'd had problems with Mirror stories before, but the elements in this one are not at odds with what we've been hearing.

:/

[_Jim]

'twould be a cunning stunt.

Life sure is different if you read the bolded words above from a dyslexic's point of view ...

[doug from upland]

I don't know how to prevent this in a way that would not violate personal rights.

[_Jim]

I am pretty sure this was from a test of 10 ozs of C4 in a pressurized cabin of 35,000 feet comparable pressure.

Is there a way/a source from which this was obtained/derived such that we can make sure/confirm this?

[Dog]

The shoe bomb that Reid had .....was about 8 to 12 ozs.

[HardStarboard]

From that picture, looks like 4oz would be enough.

What was Richard Reid suppose to have in his shoes - wasn't it something like 10 or 12oz?

[doug from upland]

My source tells me it is 10 oz.

[RaceBannon]

I imagine if you exploded a ball against the skin near a doorway, or near the center of the aircraft either forward or behind the wing, the tear of the skin in flight would be catastrophic

[cyncooper]

Remember the New Year's Eve flight that was delayed for hours at the gate? The story was that they focused on that woman, asking where her husband was and such. At the time we speculated that they were focused on her husband and did she fly in his place, etc. But I wonder if they suspected *her* as the potential terrorist, not the husband...I wonder if she was released.

[doug from upland]

Yes, Reid had appoximately 10 oz. This stuff could be put into a CD case.

[Moonman62]

It appears that the terrorists have had another "success" snatched away from them

[Aliska]

Is that enough to bring down a plane? Probably could or would.

[bt_dooftlook]

One question of course would be how to detonate this - would regular batteries do the trick?