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Blobrana


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RE: Alleged Plot
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Anti-terrorist detectives investigating the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic passenger airliners were last night granted warrants for the further detention of 22 people arrested in the operation.

A total of 24 people were held following raids in London, High Wycombe, and Birmingham in the early hours of Thursday. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the warrants allowed officers to detain the 22 suspects until Wednesday.
A hearing about detaining another individual was adjourned until Monday and that person will remain in custody until then, the spokesman added. Another of the people arrested in the terror raids has been released with no further action, Scotland Yard said last night.
Meanwhile, Thames Valley Police confirmed they had raided three internet cafes and seized computer equipment in connection with the inquiry.
Two premises in Slough and one in Reading were raided by on Thursday afternoon, said a spokesman for the force.
He added that no further raids had taken place and said that he could not go into detail about the nature of the equipment that was removed.
Earlier the extent of the Pakistan connection to the alleged plot was revealed after officials there announced the arrest of two British nationals and described one as a "key" suspect.
The Pakistani authorities identified Rashid Rauf as one of seven people held in Karachi and Lahore. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao claimed he had ties with al Qaida.

Pakistan?s Foreign Ministry also said there were indications of an "Afghanistan-based al Qaida connection" to the alleged plot to blow up airliners in mid-flight.

Officials claimed it was the arrests there that had triggered the police operation in the UK to dismantle the alleged plot in the early hours of Thursday. At a press conference in London earlier yesterday, Home Secretary John Reid praised the international authorities who assisted with the investigation, going out of his way to thank the Pakistani government.
Amid fears that an attack is still imminent, Britain's terror alert level remained at critical last night - its highest state.
Mr Reid appealed for vigilance and warned that the police could not be 100% certain that everyone involved in the plot had been arrested.
However, he said they were confident the main players had been accounted for.
Nineteen of the 24 suspects, at least three of whom are converts to Islam, have had their assets frozen by the Bank of England.

Source P & J

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Blobrana


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So far 24 suspects - believed to be British citizens, many of Pakistani origin - have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in overnight raids in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham. The number of people “processed into custody” was three more than the 21 announced earlier today, the Metropolitan Police said tonight.. A spokesman added that there were no new arrests during the day

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Blobrana


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What Was the Explosive?
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News reports of the multi-plane bombing plan mention an explosive that could have been smuggled as seemingly innocuous fluid and mixed together on board.

One possibility is triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, which may have been used in the London Underground bombings and in the alleged shoe bomb. Last month, a student in Texas City, just south of Houston, died when he created some in his apartment and it literally blew up in his face. TATP can be readily made from hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and a small amount of acid, typically sulphuric acid. (I'm not giving anything away to mention these ingredients -- they are widely known.) But it takes hours to crystallize out of solution.
New Scientist quoted experts saying it might have been nitroglycerine, but that nitro would have quickly reacted to form ammonia at easily detectable levels.
The Independent cited several other possibilities: nitromethane, nitroethane, methyl nitrate, and the Astrolite family. I think we can rule Astrolite because hydrazine, one of the binary compounds used to make it, is so toxic. Nitromethane is the primary component of PLX, thought to have been used by North Korean agents to blow up Korean Air flight 858 in 1987. Methyl nitrate can be made from nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and methanol, but it takes some care.
I'm interested to learn just how tightly sealed the containers were, what sort of chemistry lab the terrorists proposed to set up on the plane, and how they proposed to detonate the explosive.

Andrew Sullivan suggests that the liquid may not have been an explosive but a binary chemical weapon.

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(Ed - or just plain water)

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Blobrana


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Posts: 131433
Date:
Alleged Plot
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An alleged plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.

It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.
Police are searching premises with 21 people in custody after arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham.
High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical.

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