Man arrested at Gatwick Airport

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1080310,00.html ^ | 2-13-03

[Dog]

A man has been arrested at Gatwick Airport under anti-terrorist laws.

It follows the arrest of two men near Heathrow.

Gatwick's North Terminal has been closed and its flights suspended. No further details have been released by Sussex Police.

Stansted Airport has announced its security is being stepped up.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Good catch. Lots happening.

[Catspaw]

Yikes!

The men are of North African origin--Algerian? Moroccan?

[eyespysomething]

It seems Britain knew they were about to overcome with "visitors". And now they're watching a 3rd airport, huh? I would love to know what these intelligence agencies know. Then again, maybe I wouldn't.

[Dog]

We need to watch the British media sites today..

[mewzilla]

Or, as the saying goes, young, Muslim males, mostly between the ages of 17 to 40.

[Columbo]

Excellent.

[RaceBannon]

BUMPUS

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I'm still trying to find out when the Library Tower in downtown L.A. was closed, per another post.

Heavy lids on these boiling pots.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Here's the most pertinent part of the article:

A Venezuelan national has been arrested at Gatwick Airport after a live grenade was found in his luggage.

The 37-year-old man had arrived on a British Airways flight from the Columbian capital, Bogota.

Not sure why the earlier post with this in the title was pulled from Breaking News.

[jriemer]

Dog,

That only leaves out London City (Stansfield?) airport as the last remaining London airport without an incident today. I believe this airport had several airliners attacked by a Morrocan armed with a hammer last year.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

jriemer

[technochick99]

AHHGGGHHH....

I have a good friend and colleague who will be trying to fly home tomorrow morning from our offices in London. I hope she makes it without a problem.

[Dog]

They have increased security at Stansfield I saw on another thread..

Swarthy post that article you found at HinduTimes here..

[blam]

AIRPORT TERROR ARRESTS

A Venezuelan national has been arrested at Gatwick Airport after a live grenade was found in his luggage.

The 37-year-old man had arrived on a British Airways flight from the Columbian capital, Bogota.

He was picked up by Sussex police as he entered Gatwick's North Terminal and held under terrorism laws.

The Terminal was immediately closed and flights suspended.

Earlier, two men were arrested near Heathrow Airport's perimeter fence and held as a "precautionary measure."

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the two incidents proved the threat from terrorists was genuine and had not been made up.

No weapons were found on the Heathrow pair but officers were not satisfied with the answers they gave. They were believed to be of North African origin.

They were taken to Paddington Green police station in central London where they are being held under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Sources said they were not thought to be linked to any plot to attack Heathrow.

The airport has been centre of a huge security operation amid fears terrorists were planning to use rocket-launcher to blow up a plane.

Around 450 heavily-armed troops and hundreds of police officers have been guarding it since Tuesday after what the Government called a "specific threat".

Police have been stopping and searching cars in surrounding areas.

Army Lynx helicopters have been patrolling the airspace around Heathrow while an RAF Nimrod plane has been circling the capital.

Meanwhile, it has been announced the main access road to Stansted Airport in Essex is being closed tomorrow as a security measure.

[swarthyguy]

From Hindustan Times FWIW...

Terrorists may hit UK with Pak missiles
Vijay Dutt
London, February 13

The fear of terror attacks continues to mount with reports that Royal Air force jets are patrolling the skies over London and the army is likely to be moved into Central London.

The Ministry of Defence refused to comment on this but it has been conceded by authorities that the biggest ever security operation has been launched.

Missiles have possibly been smuggled from Pakistan, and the police fear that a big arsenal has been built up by terror gangs. It's a race against time to catch them before they can strike, said police chiefs. "People should have no illusion. They( terror gangs) are here."

Sources said that special monitoring is being done near mosques and in cities and suburbs, where a large number of people having links with Pakistan have settled. The arsenal of missiles could be stashed away in such areas.

The intelligence has definite information that an Al-Qaeda gang armed with shoulder-launched ground-to-air rockets capable of downing a plane taking off or landing, is aiming to blow up a passenger jet operated by El Al from Manchester. Police presence has been increased there.

Meanwhile Labour party chief John Reid has been possibly forced to backtrack on his statement that the threat here was like that of 9/11 in New York because of the panic that it might have created and also because of its adverse impact on tourism.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has however admitted that the closure of Heathrow was actively considered. He added he could only hope that the next few days would pass without any incident.

Heathrow has continued for the third consecutive day to be virtually under siege with troops stopping vehicles which may be moving within 13-mile perimeter around the airport.

[Dog]

Wonder what the lads are looking for I wonder...

Army Lynx helicopters have been patrolling the airspace around Heathrow while an RAF Nimrod plane has been circling the capital.

[Dog]

Heathrow has continued for the third consecutive day to be virtually under siege with troops stopping vehicles which may be moving within 13-mile perimeter around the airport.

Anyone know the range of a shoulder fired missile??

[ukbird]

there are four aiports total: Heathrow (west of central London), Gatwick (south), Stansted (north) and London City (east).

[Nexus]

Not sure why the earlier post with this in the title was pulled from Breaking News.

When I posted it @ 11:30 AM, I briefly mentioned how the CNN.com "breaking news" banner I got the info from was no longer up (so no one would flame me if they checked the site).

[swarthyguy]

He. Check this. And bear in mind that the subcontinent has been a testing ground for jihadi plans. That hijack of an Indian Airliner in 99 using the MO used on 9/11.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/835047/posts

Quoting an interrogation report of a LeT militant arrested in the state, informed sources said that the ISI had handed over a "fleet" of four dozen such planes, capable of carrying 10-15 kg of RDX, to LeT for carrying out an attack on Army posts or helicopter gunships of the Indian Air Force.

The sources said that two such planes were recovered recently from Rajouri district of Jammu region. The toy planes, which can be operated by remote control, take a set trajectory and hit a target within a range of 300 metres.

[blam]

I just picked up my sister on a flight from Atlanta. She was scared to death. I guess it didn't help her when she asked me what I thought and I said, "They're gonna get one." (airplane, that is)

[Dog]

I have to agree with you....they are going to get one.

But it will be done from some way we haven't thought of....who would have thought on 9/10/01 people could take a plane with a boxcutter.

[Michael2001]

Looks like we may have gotten lucky today. Knock on wood

[robjna]

i just flew yesterday and the thing that scared me the most
were those federal inspectors that were unemployed postal workers before 9/11 giving me the once over as Habib scurried on through. THe other trhign that scared me was the cute girl in line behind me catching my skid marks and my undies as they were displayed for everyone during the %^&%sh&t luggage search

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Send a message to the terrorists the law will not protect them.Should've made him walk to an open field,pull the pin and lay on it!

[Semper911]

after a live grenade was found in his luggage.

Would that be carry-on luggage, or checked luggage? If the former, we dodged a bullet, just like with the shoe bomber.

[prairiebreeze]

*I would love to know what these intelligence agencies know.*

I wouldn't sleep a wink.

Prairie

[ruready4eternity]

Police sealed the North Terminal for five hours, almost 100 flights were delayed, and many incoming passengers were kept aboard their aircraft as the 37-year-old passenger, who was carrying a copy of the Koran, was taken to Paddington Green police station.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-577351,00.html

Notice he was carrying the "SATANIC VERSES"

[Yehuda]

hold my pin bump!

[piasa]

Venezuela is providing support--including identity documents--that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say U.S. officials. U.S. News has learned that Chavez's government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that play host to foreign terrorist organizations. An American official with firsthand knowledge of the ID scheme has seen computer spreadsheets with names of people organized by nationality. "The list easily totaled several thousand," the official says. "Colombians were the largest group; there were more than a thousand of them. It also included many from Middle Eastern `countries of interest' like Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon."

The official adds: "It was shocking to see how extensive the list was."

U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them and that some of these cedulas were subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States. U.S. officials say that the cedulas are also being used by Colombian subversives and by some Venezuelan officials to travel surreptitiously.

The suspicious links between Venezuela and Islamic radicalism are multiplying.

American law enforcement and intelligence officials are exploring whether there is an al Qaeda connection--specifically, they want to know if a Venezuelan of Arab descent named Hakim Mamad al Diab Fatah had ties to any of the September 11 hijackers. The United States deported Diab Fatah to Venezuela for immigration violations in March 2002. A U.S. intelligence official says that Diab Fatah is still a "person of interest" and that his family in Venezuela is "a well-known clan associated with extremist and illicit activity" in northern Venezuela.

But when U.S. officials sought Diab Fatah for further questioning, they were told by Venezuelan officials that he was not in the country. Diab Fatah may also be tied to the Caracas mosque of Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz, which has caught investigators' attention. One of the mosque's officials, also a Venezuelan of Arab descent, was recently arrested in London for carrying a grenade on a Caracas-London flight.

------- "Terror Close to Home In Venezuela, a volatile leader befriends Mideast, Colombia and Cuba " http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/993592/posts
2 posted on 10/02/2003 2:56:28 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife | To 1 |