"Britain Tightens Airport Security After Grenade Seizure"

Thursday, February 13, 2003

Britain Tightens Airport Security After Grenade Seizure
By ALAN COWELL
The New York (NY) Times

 
LONDON, - On the third day of one of Britain's biggest security alerts, the
authorities closed down part of a major London airport and suspended flights
today after a 37-year-old Venezuelan arrived from South America with a hand
grenade in his luggage.

The explosive was found when the man's bags were searched after his British
Airways flight from Colombia landed at Gatwick airport, south of London, the
police said. The resulting suspension of flights from Gatwick's North
Terminal showed how jittery Britons had become.

Two men were also arrested near Heathrow today, the police said, following
newspaper reports that Britain ordered an alert on Tuesday because of fears
that Al Qaeda operatives planned to fire an antiaircraft missile at a
commercial airliner. The two men were found along the flight path on an
approach to Heathrow, but had no weapons.

The police said that neither the Venezuelan man arrested at Gatwick nor the
two men taken into custody near Heathrow were believed to be linked to an
Qaeda threat.

For the past three days, armed police officers have patrolled Heathrow
airport, west of London, backed by troops deployed at the airport for the
first time since 1994. The head of the Metropolitan Police in London, John
Stevens, said the authorities had considered closing down Heathrow
altogether.

With the authorities insisting that Britons face what Home Secretary David
Blunkett called a "real and serious threat" of a major terror attack, the
police also announced that they would limit access to a third airport at
Stansted, north of the capital, on Friday.

Throughout the day today, a Royal Air Force Nimrod surveillance plane
prowled the skies over the British capital.

Britain ordered the alert this week because of what it called fears that a
Qaeda attack would be launched to coincide with the major Muslim festival of
Id al-Adha marking the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

British officials were said tonight to be frustrated that the security alert
had not netted any Al Qaeda-linked cell of terrorists. The worries have
deepened because of concerns that terrorists may be planning an attack
similar to an attempt last November to down an Israeli airliner with
surface-to-air missiles as it left the east African port city of Mombasa, in
Kenya.

The developments coincided with a gathering sense of diplomatic crisis as
United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq prepared to issue a report on
Friday that could well deepen a profound divide within Europe and between
some European nations and the United States over whether to go to war
against Iraq.

Britain is Washington's most committed ally and the only European nation to
have pledged substantial military support for the United States, with tens
of thousands of British troops deploying to the Persian Gulf. But without a
second United Nations resolution authorizing the use of force, Prime
Minister Tony Blair faces a groundswell of opposition to war in Iraq, from
British voters as well as other European leaders.

Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to take to
the streets on Saturday to protest the war, and organizers of one march in
London say they expect a massive turnout, putting ever more pressure on Mr.
Blair to convince voters of a need for war to disarm Saddam Hussein if he
does to give up weapons of mass destruction.

Quite apart from opposition within Britain to Mr. Blair's close alliance
with President Bush, the European dispute, which pits Britain, Spain and
Italy primarily against France and Germany, also threatens to explode at a
summit meeting of European leaders next Monday. Prime Minister Blair sent a
letter to his fellow Europeans on Wednesday, a spokesman said today though
he refused to divulge the contents.

However, news reports from Brussels quoted Mr. Blair's letter as saying,
"While we of course regard military action as a last resort, we must make
clear that no member state rules it out if needed to uphold the authority of
the Security Council."

The letter said Mr. Hussein had one last chance to disarm, "but failing
that, we should be clear that Saddam faces immediate and serious
consequences." The term "serious consequences" is diplomatic code for an
invasion.

Mr. Blair also urged rapid steps to agree on a second resolution authorizing
war. Both France and Germany, backed by Russia, have insisted that United
Nations weapons inspectors should be given more time to uncover Iraq's full
arsenal, while Germany has expressed total opposition to war.

The newest security alert and the increasingly imminent prospect of British
soldiers deploying in a shooting war has unnerved many in this country. Both
of Britain's main opposition parties urged the government to convince
Britons "that this is not a stunt and should be taken seriously."

But the authorities have not given a full explanation of the alert beyond
saying that the threat is real.

Mr. Blair told reporters today that "the threat that preoccupies not just
this country but other countries throughout the world is the threat of
disorder and chaos."


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