"Complex" plot of blow up UK airlines foiled

[Frozzy]

'Plot to blow up planes' foiled
A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled on aircraft in hand luggage.

Police have arrested about 18 people in the London area after an anti-terrorist operation lasting several months.

Security at all airports in the UK has been tightened and delays are expected. MI5 has raised the UK threat level to critical - the highest possible.

I was handed a piece of paper saying that pretty much nothing could be taken on board the plane
Joe Lynam
BBC journalist at Gatwick

According to MI5's website, critical threat level means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK".

Scotland Yard said in a statement that their investigation into the alleged plot was a "major operation" which would be "lengthy and complex".

"We would like to reassure the public that this operation was carried out with public safety uppermost in our minds."

Home Secretary John Reid is due to make a statement early on Thursday morning.

Transparent bags

The Department for Transport set out the details of the security measures at UK airports.


THREAT LEVEL
The current threat level is assessed as critical as of 10th August 2006 - this means that an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK
MI5 statement

Passengers will not be allowed to take any hand luggage on to any flights in the UK, the department said.

Only the barest essentials - including passports and wallets - will be allowed to be carried on board in transparent plastic bags.

"We hope that these measures, which are being kept under review by the government, will need to be in place for a limited period only," the statement said.

BBC journalist Joe Lynam encountered the increased security measures at Gatwick airport.

"I was handed a piece of paper saying that pretty much nothing could be taken on board the plane," he said.

"Everything had to be checked in and that includes mobile phones, ipods, wallets - even spectacle cases had to be checked in."

David Learmount from Flight International Magazine said he expected passengers to be searched much more carefully.

He added: "This is the first time this measure has actually been taken. Certainly I've never seen hand luggage banned."

Pretty serious business.

[Urban Ranger]

I am still wating for the "chemical warfare" thingie that terrorists were supposed to have last time.

[Dinner]

More dumb ass muslim terrorists tossed in jail.

[Chemical Ollie]

I'm surprised no one tried this before.

High-jacking planes with the use of light cutting weapons and ruthlessness isn't possible anymore, as the surprise effect was lost in 2001. Passenger would now risk their lifes in order to stop a hijacking, something they rarely would dare before.

But despite the tight airport security around the world, denying people to bring nailcutters and Leathermans, there are lots of things allowed on board which could easily be disguised bombs. Like a perfume or booze bottle full of nitroglycerine, combined with a detonator hidden inside a ball-tip pen. Or plastic explosives, disguised as childrens clay, inside a tax-free shop bag. Your fantasy is the only limit. Such devices would need a trained dog or advanced chemical sniffer to detect, things that are rarely used for scanning hand luggage.

An Al-Queda style attack, with a dozen or more aircraft being blown from the sky within 15 minutes or so, would be not be that hard to pull off. And even if half of the terrorists got cought before entering the aircraft, some would slip through and be able to complete their mission before the word is out, if they used good timing and multiple airports. Unless being infiltrated by the police, as in this case.

MI5

[dannubis]

Thank god thy found them!

Good job MI5

[BeBro]

Terror plots foiled

[MarkG]

i surelly hope germans are not terrified enough by the brits and let me fly out of cologne tomorrow....

[BeBro]

Depends where you want to fly, so far I read here that some airlines cancelled all flights to Britain. Dunno what tomorrow is of course.

[Ecthy]

CO, it was tried in 1995 by some weird Muslim guy.

Muslims, I tell you...

[Chemical Ollie]

How come he failed?

[Ecthy]

He was discovered when a fire broke out in his Manila flat where he was building the bombs. he meant to explode 11 planes mid-air in the course of 24 hours. Made one test attempt that failed. Yussuf something his name...

[Datajack Franit]

The religion of peace strikes again

[Harovan]

Originally posted by MarkG
i surelly hope germans are not terrified enough by the brits and let me fly out of cologne tomorrow....

You are in Cologne?

Expel him today!

It's high security risk!

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
The religion of peace

The peace of the dead.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Ecthy
He was discovered when a fire broke out in his Manila flat where he was building the bombs. he meant to explode 11 planes mid-air in the course of 24 hours. Made one test attempt that failed. Yussuf something his name...

A suicide bomber doing it 11 times over?

[Frozzy]

A suicide bomber doing it 11 times over?

No suicide bomber. One attack previously involved him placing the explosive under lifejacket under the seat (somewhere never checked by air hostesses/cleaners) so when the plane took off again, it would blow up

[dannubis]

wasn't that guy also connected to the wtc bomb in 93 ?

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Oerdin


More dumb ass muslim terrorists tossed in jail.

Where did it say that they where muslim?

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Ecthy
CO, it was tried in 1995 by some weird Muslim guy.

Muslims, I tell you...

I feel I need to know more about the origins of German civilization before I can comment.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Where did it say that they where muslim?

They were of Pakistani origin. Granted, only ~95% of Pakistanis are Muslim.

[Ecthy]

LordShiva, in that case you should read up a bit on Roman expansion in Central Europe, the Holy Roman Empire, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, medieval Minne literature/song, Renaissance humanism, early modern Aufklärung / enlightenment, 19th century nationalism, Kantian/Hegelian philosophy, Goethe / Schiller literature, Marxism, post-WWI expressionism, post-WWII modern realism, 1920 cinematography, GDR socialist lifestyle, post-1990 identity crisis, to name just a few examples.

What does India have to offer (I'm not gonna read what you post)

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Ecthy
What does India have to offer (I'm not gonna read what you post)

We invented zero, so it's a good thing that you're not gonna read what I post.

[Ecthy]

Let's face it, India got nothing culture-wise.

Indian civilization consists of nothing but some lower caste people who crap on the streets and eat nan all day and some higher caste people who are fat, play with gemstones, ride on elephants and eat curry all day.

[Ecthy]

That's splendid sig material, you're all welcome.

[LordShiva]

Yeah, our accomplishments suck. We haven't managed to start even one world war, let alone two

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Ecthy
He was discovered when a fire broke out in his Manila flat where he was building the bombs. he meant to explode 11 planes mid-air in the course of 24 hours. Made one test attempt that failed. Yussuf something his name...

Yup, Ramzi Yousef

From NYT:

The plot to blow up several airliners over the Atlantic, uncovered by the British authorities, bears a striking, if not eerie, resemblance to a plot hatched by Al Qaeda operatives 12 years ago to simultaneously blow up airliners over the Pacific.

That plot was conceived in Manila by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was starting his climb to be a top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, and Ramzi Yousef, who was the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. It was financed by bin Laden.

Mohammed code-named the operation ‘‘Bojinka,’’ which was widely reported to have been adopted from Serbo-Croatian, meaning ‘‘big bang.’’ But Mohammed told his CIA interrogators it was just a ‘‘nonsense word’’ he adopted after hearing it on the front lines when he was fighting in Afghanistan during the war against Russia, according to ‘‘The 9/11 Commission Report.’’

Mohammed was seized in Pakistan in 2003, and is now being held by the CIA at an undisclosed location.

The Bojinka plot was anything but nonsense. At an apartment in Manila, Mohammed and Yousef began mixing chemicals that they planned to put into containers that would be carried on board the airliners, much like the London plotters were alleged to have been planning. In those days, it would have been relatively easy to get liquid explosives past a checkpoint.

Mohammed and Yousef studied airline schedules and planned to sneak the liquid on to a dozen planes headed to Seoul and Hong Kong and then on to the United States.

The plot was foiled in early 1995 when a fire broke out in the apartment where some of the plotters were working. Among the things found when the police investigated was Yousef’s laptop, with a file called ‘‘Bojinka.’’ They also found dolls wearing clothes containing nitrocellulose, according to the 9/11 report.

Yousef was captured in Pakistan, turned over to the United States and sentenced to life without parole.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Frack,

Wife is travleing today on a late flight out of New York. Looks like at a minimum she'll have huge delays likely the flight might even be cancelled. Better late than the 'late Mrs. Oglethorpe" though.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie


A suicide bomber doing it 11 times over?

11 times 72 virgins = 792 virgins

[Datajack Franit]

Damn you Shiva, beated me to a brand new sig. I guess I have to insult 1 billion people as well

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
Damn you Shiva, beated me to a brand new sig. I guess I have to insult 1 billion people as well

But you aren't allowed to quote yourself in your own sig! You need to get someone else to do it.