"Threat level raised: Britain foils plane terror plot targeting UK flights to the U.S."

Thursday, August 10, 2006

UK foils plane terror plot
Cable News Network (CNN)


LONDON (CNN) -- Major delays are expected at all UK airports after the
nation's threat level was raised to "critical" when police disrupted a plot
to blow up planes in mid-flight. 

The highest possible alert level, raised by the British Home Office on
Thursday, means "an attack is expected imminently," and authorities have
said no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes. 

London's Metropolitan Police said a months-long intelligence operation by
the anti-terrorist branch and security service resulted in several arrests
overnight, according to a Scotland Yard news release. 

The aim of the plot was to explode devices carried aboard planes in handheld
luggage -- especially on flights from Britain to the United States,
according to Scotland Yard.

"This is a major operation which inevitably will be lengthy and complex,"
Scotland Yard said in a statement. 

Britain's Home Secretary John Reid has called the alleged plot significant
and said it was designed to "bring down a number of aircraft through
mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life."

"We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist
activity," Reid said in a statement. 

"This will mean major disruption at all UK airports."

Hand luggage will not be allowed into the cabin of a plane and passengers
will only be allowed to take a wallet, travel documents and other essential
items in a plastic bag. 

"All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items
they are carrying must be X-ray screened," a BAA statement added. (Full
story)

The alleged terror plot comes more than five years after Briton Richard Reid
attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers on an American
Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001, only a few months
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 

Passengers thwarted his plan, and the plane landed safely in Boston. Reid
pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in October 2002 and is serving a life
sentence at the nation's super-maximum security prison in Florence,
Colorado. 

In Washington, FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said the agency is aware of
the "ongoing situation in London" and will issue a statement later.

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