http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778575.stm

 

A terror plot to blow up planes from the UK mid-flight has been disrupted, Scotland Yard says. Heightened security is causing severe delays at airports and the threat level has been raised to "critical".

There's a subtle difference between a plot being disrupted and it being foiled.

 

If its been disrupted we shouldn't be at the critical threat level. That's just causing panic.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Paul Stephenson said the alleged plotters had intended "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

Three airplanes over that Atlantic? Thats about six hundred deaths, which in terms of mass murder, is quite easily imaginable. This chap's blowing it out of proportion.

These alerts should be taken very seroisly.... it was only last year inocent people lost their lives on the way to work in this country.

Folied means it was going to take place....

Manc, you seem to like to only ever care about numbers dead. any number of people dead is a bad number. thank god it was foiled...

In a few days it'll all blow over and the level of threat will just be the same as before, except this time there will be an added touch of anxiety for the travellers.

 

If someone wanted to board a plane with a bomb, they will find a way. Tomorrow, next week, next month, whenever.

Current news from Channel 4. They think the plan was to blow up at least 10 airliners over the atlantic. They aren't sure if the plot was imminent but there's a suspicion it was possibly going to be on the 5th anniversary of 9/11.

 

And current disruption to airlines is a safety precaution. If any of their intelligence is even slightly out, and something were to happen, they couldn't be seen to have taken no action.

Travel chaos grips UK's airports

 

Stringent security measures have been put in place at UK airports, causing passengers severe delays, following a police anti-terror operation.

All short-haul inbound flights to Heathrow airport have been cancelled. Some flights in and out of Gatwick have been suspended.

 

German carrier Lufthansa and the Spanish airline Iberia have cancelled flights to the UK.

 

Security has been increased at Channel ports and the Eurotunnel terminal.

 

Fifteen flights have been delayed at Edinburgh Airport. Most of those flights were scheduled to fly to London.

 

Air France said it had cancelled five flights from Heathrow to Paris.

 

BAA has said that at Heathrow all short-haul inbound aircraft have been cancelled. Inbound long-haul flights continue to operate but with severe delays.

 

For outbound flights at Heathrow, check-in across all four terminals is severely affected and there are lengthy delays. Some airlines have cancelled outbound short-haul flights.

 

Virgin West Coast has said it will accept any London to Manchester air tickets dated with today's date on its trains.

 

Passenger concern

 

The BBC News website's Krishan Ramakrishnan at Heathrow said travellers at the airport were not as worried by the security operation as by the inconvenience of being allowed to take just passports and medicines on the plane.

 

Courteney Dane, who is travelling back to Australia, said: "I'm worried about the cost and the fact I've got a 24 hour flight with nothing to read. I'm not really worried about the security, it's just a nuisance."

 

Our reporter said there was an enormous queue to get into the Terminal Four building.

 

He said many travellers were working out ways to travel to Europe by alternative methods, such as Eurostar.

 

He also described Terminal Three as a "sea of people", as a huge queue built to get in to the departure lounge.

 

Charlotte Demant, a make up artist, has been in Ghana for two weeks and was on her way home to Denmark.

 

She said: "I can understand why they are worried about security but the airline has not been helpful.

 

"We should have at least been given something to eat and drink and money to phone home. I'm going to end up spending the night here in the cold airport."

 

Increased security

 

Scotland's airports are busy but passengers are still being advised to turn up even though there may be long queues for check-in.

 

There were extra security checks at Glasgow airport and Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Prestwick and Dundee were experiencing delays.

 

At Glasgow airport, Michelle Standaloft, from Rothesay, said: "Everyone's quite calm now, but when you come and you see the police and everything, you are a bit concerned."

 

She added: "We know it's for our own benefit, in fact it's probably the safest day to fly."

 

Manchester airport has said there are delays on all flights of between one and three hours.

 

The only flights from the airport cancelled were those BMI and BA flights destined for Heathrow.

 

Stansted airport is open, with flights arriving and departing but passengers are experiencing waits of up to three hours to get through checks.

 

Over 2,000 passengers clutching their plastic bags snake around the terminal queuing to pass through customs.

 

Toni and Ray Haslam were on their way for a short break to Limoges but had heard their flight was one of many that have been cancelled.

 

"At least we can go back home, and it was just a pleasure trip. It's really bad for those who really have to be at their destination," Mrs Haslam said.

 

Extra police have been drafted in to many UK airports.

 

At Gatwick, airport worker Warren Tarling said he had never seen the airport so busy.

 

"There's thousands upon thousands of people. All flights out of the airport have been delayed," he said.

 

"Most people have been polite but some have been angry. Generally people have been understanding because of the nature of the problem."

 

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said all airports and airlines operating into and out of the UK would be on a heightened state of security.

 

"Maximum security unfortunately will involve immediate and severe disruptions for passengers with significant delays likely at all UK airports," he said.

 

 

"What these changes mean in practice is that all hand baggage will now have to be checked in with only a small number of essential items allowed through search controls.

 

"Exceptions will be in place for those travelling with infants and for prescription medicines."

 

Passengers are being asked to check in most items of baggage, apart from wallets and purses, identity and travel documents, prescription medicines, spectacles and sunglasses and keys.

 

Those travelling with children will be allowed items essential for caring for them on the flight.

 

Passengers wanting detailed information are being advised to contact the airline they were due to travel with. Information would also be available on the Home Office, the Department for Transport and Foreign Office websites.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778871.stm

Fears of 'parallel terror group'

 

A massive security operation is under way at Britain's airports despite several arrests of suspects overnight.

 

This is an operation that will have been ongoing for some time. Security sources are saying that this was a group that was being watched for some period, perhaps even months.

 

But in the last five days new intelligence came in which set off alarm bells inside MI5 Headquarters in Thames House and led the security services to believe they had to move fast.

 

They believed this was a group who were actively developing the capability to carry out their intentions, and not just talk.

 

'9/11 level'

 

This means it is likely the police and security services believed they were putting together material to carry out this attack.

 

The attack which was disrupted has been described as imminent but was not thought to have been planned for the day of the raids but possibly within a week or two.

 

It would have targeted US airlines carrying passengers from London to the US.

 

They would have been blown up using explosives carried on as hand luggage by suicide bombers. The explosive was thought to be some kind of liquid.

 

It is not clear exactly how many flights were being targeted but it could have been up to 10 which would make this one of the most significant terrorist plots to have been seen and which could have killed people on a scale comparable to 9/11.

 

US link

 

One of the concerns and one of the reasons we've seen the threat level moved up to its highest - critical - is the fear that maybe this isn't all they know.

 

Intelligence is often fragmentary and partial, so the fear perhaps is that there is another, parallel group or other individuals who are also going to carry out similar attacks. What if they remain at large and what if they decide to move because they've seen another group disrupted and arrested?

 

That's why a lot of security measures are being taken.

 

We know that overnight the US Department of Homeland Security raised its threat level on flights to the UK and put in place tighter security.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778889.stm

all the airports in the US are on high alert as well....

 

is it wrong for me to feel non-threatened by this??? Its like Ian said... tomorrow there will be another threat... and another... then back some normalcy... its just all so redundant...

 

I hate this.

 

.. and on another note...

 

--Passangers aren't allowed to bring any liquids or gel based things onto the plane (carry on) --no shampoo.. lotions, hair products etc.. anything liquid based!!! Not even baby formula!!!!

and lots of other countries round Europe are suspending flights to the UK.

 

but if you were going to put bets on how long til Al Qaida are mentioned, all bets are now off......

 

Plot could be work of al Qaida says expert

 

THE alleged plot to blow up aircraft in mid-air was an ambitious plan of the kind favoured by the al Qaida network.

It would have killed unprecedented numbers of passengers, a terrorism expert said today.

Prof Paul Wilkinson of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrew's University said nothing on this apparent scale had succeeded before.

He said: "This is really a very ambitious plot indeed. It is the kind of spectacular potentially lethal attack which the al Qaida network has been particularly interested in carrying out.

"I would be very surprised if it was found that they were not involved as a movement.

"It is possible I suppose that some other movement could have copied the kind of techniques that had been used by the al Qaida network but I think that's unlikely.

"I don't think we should in any way underestimate it. It's a significant and serious development and the authorities are right to be responding with exceptional measures."

He said the only close comparison could be with the foiled Bojinka plot to blow up 12 western airliners simultaneously in Asia in the mid-1990s.

The plot, which would have killed thousands in the Asia Pacific region, was scuppered when plans were found in the Manila, Philippines base of terrorist Ramzi Yousef who also planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

"We know from the investigation of the 9/11 commission that the original plot for the 9/11 attacks was to attack 10 cities and not just New York and Washington as happened. It really does show that this is a movement which is intent on causing massive death and destruction."

Prof Wilkinson said Yousef's career added credibility to suggestions that plotters may have been planning to take liquid bomb "ingredients" on board.

He said Yousef was known to have developed techniques for liquid-based devices which - crucially - could be assembled quickly onboard an aircraft making it very difficult to detect beforehand.

He said the experience of the use of suicide bombers on planes made such threats likely and added: "There are people who would be looking for the recipes and that is the reason any information on this is very dangerous to put around.

"What I think is the real worry is that sufficient plotters are prepared to take the necessary ingredients on board the plane and assemble the device which would then be used there on the plane."

Yesterday Home Secretary John Reid said Britain faced its most sustained period of serious threat since the end of the Second World War.

In a high-profile speech on security he warned the security services and police alone could not guarantee 100 per cent success in combating terrorism.

Only a common effort from all sections of society could ensure the security of our communities, he said.

He said Britain was facing a new breed of "unconstrained" terrorist who aimed to destroy the country's values and had access to "means of mass destruction".

There were claims yesterday that the police and MI5 had foiled at least 13 suspected terrorist plots in Britain in the last six years.

It was reported MI5 had switched more resources to counter terrorism and that 87 per cent of its budget was spent on combating the threat.

Asked whether the apparent plot was on a par with the September 11 attacks in the US, security psychologist Dr John Potter of Exeter University said: "We are shooting in the dark a bit at the moment but I think that that seems to be the logic.

"It does look as though it is pretty likely that there was something very, very substantial that could even have been bigger.

"An aircraft full of passengers could do a hell of a lot of damage if it is sent in the wrong direction.

"AWho knows what the potential targets were."

He added: "Aircraft have been put down and people killed in the past but never has the level of vigilance been as high as for this.

"It has to be something pretty powerful."

 

http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=1686868

 

these cats are ruthless...

Manc' date=' you seem to like to only ever care about numbers dead. any number of people dead is a bad number. thank god it was foiled...[/quote']

Indeed, people die all the time for a variety of reasons.

 

Its been over a year since anyone in the UK died from terrorist attack.

Last year it was 58, this year none

 

Things are getting better, now calm down

As someone living in London I can tell you that we see these reports every so often and this time they've got police at the airports and it's up another level.

 

I really think it's like as Ian said "If someone wanted to board a plane with a bomb, they will find a way. Tomorrow, next week, next month, whenever"

 

It's just a way to put fear into the public and it actually scares me a bit but on a whole different level.....

 

You see, as I have heavily researched & believe 'terrorism' is a Government-sponsored tool to create order out of chaos, these reports of 'foiled' attacks should give us something to worry about as they serve as a pychological operation.

Now, if you notice.....these 'terror raids' and police operations to 'foil' or 'disrupt' attacks on us happen every often and, apart from the one they really messed up in London recently, the information is pretty limited about the outcome of such raids and the suspects are normally reported to be held under the lovely "terrorism act" which covers such a wide scale of offences now.

 

Then after a week or so...nothing....reports and information about these events just disappear from the headlines and are only every brought up when we need a good old reminder. This is because there's nothing to really report and sometimes even years OLD threats are released by the government to the news outlets and I have posted articles here in the past which show this to have happened, not just in the UK but in the US too.

 

Having large numbers of these reports that come to nothing give an impression that the government is preventing real attacks and when the big ugly staged attack is carried out.....you'll notice that there's always talk of "well we stopped 'X number' of attacks in the past year but we can't stop them all" and "this attack was inevitable, we can't stop them all getting through".

The general public have been pre-loaded with fear and examples of so-called 'foiling' of big attacks that they believe all this and submit to the notion the "the government couldn't stop this attack, they did the best that they could but we need to give them more strict control over peoples lives in order that this chaos doesn't happen again"

 

Order out of chaos.

 

....and of course, most of the people working within the police and related services are good honest people, they do what they are told as they think they are helping the public....that is why it's so scary, they all think they are helping us through these 'troubled times'. Little do they know that it's alot more complex and this is why we are doomed to suffer again.

We're getting conflicting reports over the number of arrests. It's ranges from 18-22.

 

I feel really bad for all the people that are trapped at the airports and can't get home.

one thing I have to say about Scotland Yard and the rest of the English Authorties...

 

 

note how quick they apprehend suspects, and get a move on things.... I haven't seen that type of reaction from the US authorities.. its like they drag their feet to find a suspect or other...

 

granted.. they are only suspects.. but, my point is.. at least they move.. and make moves. We just like to stir the pot.

"You see, as I have heavily researched & believe 'terrorism' is a Government-sponsored tool to create order out of chaos, these reports of 'foiled' attacks should give us something to worry about as they serve as a pychological operation."

I was there, in heathrow few days ago......fortunately it did'n happened that day or my mother would have an heart attack.....and fortunately didn't happened anithing at all.....

'ugadawg5' is a little simple I think. Go on laugh away, laugh all day if it helps.

 

You don't understand how people can think for themselves

 

Your like a programmed robot.

 

"ohh, right, I have to laugh at that because I don't know how to comprehend it"

 

What a sad life you must live.

 

 

Anything you come back with is negated by you initial foolishness.

ok thanks for thinking for me...it's just too much for my simple American mind.

Wow, you hit the nail square on the head.

 

You deserve a lolly-pop.

How Long Before It Turns Into BS Like Every Other Example?

 

Look, the Associated Press reports that the dastardly new terror plot is a re-hash of Operation Bojinka - a 1995 plot to blow up 10 Western airliners simultaneously. What they don't report is that its ringleader - Ramzi Youssef - was protected by the US government in 1992.

 

In September of 1992 Youssef entered the US with Ahmad Ajaj. Ajaj's luggage contained documents on how to make bombs and was stuffed with fake passports and ID's.

 

Ajaj was arrested - amazingly Youssef was released.

 

Youssef later masterminded the WTC '93 bombing after FBI agents provided the terrorists with real explosives under cover of a supposed sting operation.

 

Ramzi Youssef is a US government agent and his Bojinka plot - supposedly foiled by his intelligence agency bosses - is now being used as the latest monster under the bed to scare US and UK citizens into surrendering what's left of their rights.

 

Isn't it amazing that US government officials claimed ignorance of any Bojinka style plans before 9/11 and yet now they re-hash one for a faux terror alert.

 

Government enforcers and frightened slaves are all hot and bothered about the latest supposed terror plot targeting UK flights inbound to the US.

 

Ridiculous restrictions have been slapped on travelers, with mother's having to taste baby milk before they board planes and all hand luggage, including liquid drinks, being banned.

 

The new alert arrives with the 9/11 truth movement on the cusp of a wave of media exposure.

 

Evidence of government sponsored terror and how they use the fear of terror to control society is bursting out at the seams as editorials nationwide in the US are uniform in attempting to debunk research that questions the official version of 9/11.

 

 

Statistical analysis has proven that every time Blair and Bush sag in approval ratings, a fresh terror alert gives them a bounce back up the charts.

 

Every single major terror alert issued by either the US, Canadian or UK governments has proven to be either a manufactured facade, an entrapment sting or an outright hoax.

 

Recently, a supposed plan to hijack planes and fly them into London landmarks was exposed as a concoction of UK government lobbyists and news chiefs.

 

The July 2005 London bombings were a British intelligence operation. The alleged ringleader, Mohammed Siddique Khan, was working for MI5.

 

Here is a compendium list of other reports where the role of governments and security agencies in manufacturing artificial terror plots is exposed - within these stories are links to even more.

 

Seven Morons In A Warehouse

 

Sears Tower: US Government Creates Another Al-Qaeda Cell

 

Cooked Canary Wharf Terror Plot Recycled

 

Canadian 'Terror Plot' Begins To Unravel

 

Hyped Terror Raid Proves To Be Paper Tiger

 

Toledo Terrorists and Government Entrapment

 

Twenty-Three Intel Experts Say LA Terror Plot a Sham

 

Bush Plays Terror Card With Bogus LA Attack Plot

 

NYC Subway "Plot": Just Another Fake Terror Alert

 

ALSO SEE: FAKE TERROR ALERTS ARCHIVE

Protected by the U.S. Govt? Yeah, in a SuperMax Prison...

 

On November 12, 1997 Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 bombing and in 1998 he was convicted of "seditious conspiracy" to bomb the towers.

 

He is currently held in the high-security Supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.

 

 

- wikipedia

He was GIVEN the explosives!

 

It actually was mainstream news that he recorded the FBI telling him exactly what to get his men to do.....he was suspect of the supposed "sting" operation and thought the whole thing was a set-up.....and it was RIGHT!.

 

 

By the way, there's more going on in the hell hole that is Israel/Lebanon.....but I guess this news is more important......even if nothing has happened.....it's all now a big media propaganda frenzy.........oh I hate my country's leaders.

wikipedia??? hardly a reliable source...... but please continue.. you guys are quite entertaining.. ;)

rediculous...back to topic (how was that berrywoman? :kiss: )