Posted on 08/11/2006 6:46:46 AM PDT by GMMAC
Britain names 19 suspects
By ROBERT BARR
cnews.canoe.ca
August 11, 2006
LONDON (AP) - British authorities on Friday named 19 of the suspects being held in connection with a plot to blow up U.S.-bound commercial jets and ordered their assets frozen, and Pakistan announced five new arrests. The names released by the Bank of England, acting on an order from the government, were of Muslim origin, many of which are common in Pakistan. The suspects ranged in age from 17 to 35.
The five new arrests in Pakistan brought the total suspects held there to seven. A Pakistani official said the five were arrested as suspected "facilitators" of the plot while the two others were arrested last week. British police have arrested 24 people suspected of involvement in the plot which authorities said Thursday would have caused "mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
Investigators, describing a plot on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, said the attackers planned to use common electronic devices to detonate liquid explosives 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 such as a disposable camera or a music player, two U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.
A U.S. law enforcement official in Washington said at least one martyrdom tape was found during ongoing raids across England.
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.
Many of the suspects were said to be British Muslims and neighbours said at least two of those arrested were converts to Islam.
Travellers at British airports struggled with the fallout from the terror alert, which brought tight security and dozens of cancelled flights. Two U.S. officials said British, U.S. and Pakistani investigators were trying to trace the steps of the suspects in Pakistan and were seeking to determine whether a couple of them attended terrorist training camps there.
Airline passengers faced a second day of disruptions and disappointment Friday 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 the authority that runs Britain's major airports.
At Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, around 70 per cent of flights were running Friday, but many passengers turned around and headed home after an early morning announcement that a raft of flights had been cancelled, including British Airways services to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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.
The raids in Britain on Thursday followed a months-long 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 Airlines flights from Britain to major U.S. destinations, which counterterrorism officials said probably included New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. 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.
"These people were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. Some of them may have parents who were immigrants from Pakistan," said Tariq Azim Khan, the Pakistani minister of state for information, said Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Searches continued throughout the day, and police cordoned off streets in several locations.
Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe. 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." Neighbours identified another suspect as Don Stewart-Whyte, 21, from High Wycombe, a convert who changed his name to Abdul Waheed.
Ibrahim Savant, of Walthamstow, one of the names on the Bank of England list, was a convert formerly known as Oliver, neighbours said.
Sure seems like the short list for profiling.
PING!
Good start to a profile to start using, unannounced of course.
Australia has the right idea in kicking all the trouble makers back to their sand box.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
View more pics from the 08/05/06 rally
1.) Had the planes actually gone down, we would not have known how they did it, since they would have been over the ocean when it happened. It would have paralyzed air travel for much longer than 9/11. Did anyone hear the knuckleheaded dopes mention that during the day? All I heard was breastmilk and hair gel, and
They missed Chertoff's comment during his news conference that this is the most sophisticated plot they have seen......hhhhhmmmmmm "They had seen"...........Well that implies they have thwarted other plots. Where the hell were the dunderheaded media morons asking about that?
OK so now what? Let me guess,these people will be given every humane international protection and their day in court,and ultimately will do time in jail.BIG DEAL.How about if found guilty we execute em and send a message to the rest of their Islmo fascist buddies !!!
---These people were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. ---
What would make them do such a thing, do you think?
---Ibrahim Savant, of Walthamstow, one of the names on the Bank of England list, was a convert formerly known as Oliver, neighbours said.---
Rosicrucian?
You make some very good points and it is the reason why I get my news and excellent analysis from Free Republic since 1998.
Actually, your first point was discussed on Fox yesterday.
It was educational for us all that, shortly after 9/11, nearly all Muslims in the US that were interviewed by the MSM responded that their first allegiance was to Islam, NOT the US (even though most claimed to be US citizens) and, if called to service, they would NOT defend the US against Islam.
I guess it's the same in the UK. This is the reason that Islam must not only be defeated, it must be eradicated. We have had these wars with Islam before (remember reading about the Crusades?) and will again if we don't end it all right now!!
Fox.....but what about the other 100s of media outlets? Did you read it in the papers today? What about other cable or network news? I'm sure you get my point.
Last night, our local news affiliate on ABC news, spoke for 20 minutes about the terror plot and never once said the word Muslim. When are these idiots going to realize that we are at War whether the Democrats acknowledge it or not? The Isalmofascists just love that we don't want to fight back. that doesn't mean for one second that they don't want us all dead.
Britian has some very radical Mosques and clerics. They are preaching jihad to their followers.
IIRC a few have been deported.
We have the same problem here although very little is said about it.
Why these people are allowed to stay here is beyond me.
I'm sure there are laws that could be used against them if the gov. had any cojones.
Might not be a bad idea to locate a mosque near you and file the info away for future reference.
Not only that, but I heard someone on tv say that our policy apparently isn't working because of this. Apparently it is! One, it was a thwarted attempt. Two, it was thwarted before it even made it here by one of the coalition countries, and Pakistan tipped it off. So what part didn't work--the terrorists'? Then the woman on Fox and Friends was giving the Pakistani government official a hard time about the training camps still being there. What was the point of that? She should have just thanked him for knowing where they were. Let's just hope, despite the media and others, like Reid, that everyone else on our side keeps doing their jobs.
That kind of reporting will get you 30 days of manditory sensitivity training in the UK.
Anchor vermin?
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