View Full Version : Cross-Atlantic Flight Terror Plot Foiled
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Thursday raised its terror threat level after British police said they had arrested more than 20 suspects in a major terrorist plot to blow up passenger jets flying between the United Kingdom and the United States.
The foiled plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
The intelligence that uncovered the plot "makes very strong links to al Qaeda," a senior U.S. administration official told CNN.
The plot involved hiding masked liquid explosives in carry-on luggage, a U.S. government official told CNN.
A U.S. administration official said the terror plot targeted Continental, United, and American Airlines. It was not immediately clear whether other airlines also were involved.
British Home Secretary John Reid said the plotters planned loss of life on "an unprecedented scale."
Britain's threat warning level has been raised to "critical" -- meaning an attack is expected imminently.
The U.S. threat level has been raised to the highest level of "severe," or red, for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom bound for the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In addition, the threat level has been raised to "high," or orange for all commercial flights operating in or coming to the United States, the DHS statement said.
The nation's overall terror threat level has not been altered.
Thursday was the first time the DHS has raised the threat level for a specific group of flights.
"Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," the DHS statement said.
While there is no indication of plotting within the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff issued a statement saying "we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted."
That means airline passengers around the country should show up at least two hours early for all flights, an official with the Transportation Security Administration told CNN.
"Travelers should go about their plans confidently, while maintaining vigilance in their surroundings and exercising patience with screening and security officials," Chertoff said.
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.
Security alert follows arrests
British and U.S. security agencies quickly moved to impose strict limits on carry-on items in the wake of Thursday's arrests, causing extended delays at airport security checkpoints.
The British Airports Authority said no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes leaving British airports until further notice.
Stephenson said 21 people were arrested by London, Birmingham and Thames Valley police overnight in an ongoing operation.
"This is about people who are desperate ... who want to do things that no right-minded citizen of this country or any other country would want to tolerate," Stephenson said.
The arrests were the result of a "covert counter-terrorist operation," police said. "It is believed that the aim was to detonate explosive devices smuggled on board the aircraft in hand luggage."
Home Secretary Reid said: "We are doing everything possible to disrupt any other terrorist activity. This will mean major disruptions from all UK airports."
Source: CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/10/us.security/index.html)
Oh shit. That's crazy.
El Muerto
08-10-2006, 02:57 PM
Yeah, I just heard that on TV. I don't really know what to say, the world seems to have gone crazy...
Christopher
08-10-2006, 05:18 PM
I heard about it this morning. It's insane and really distrubing. You can't even fly safely anymore...
21 British Mouslims arrested to stop the attecks, at least England did a good job stopping them.
But this won't be the last attement, though.
Derek The Infamous
08-10-2006, 05:46 PM
As much as I think we dropped the ball with 9/11, this right here proves our terrorism intelligence has greatly improved since then.
This would've been terrible had it went through.
I beleive it was British intelligence for the most part, considering they were the ones who co-ordinated and carried out the "covert counter-terrorist operation" in Britain.
Derek The Infamous
08-10-2006, 08:12 PM
Good point. But even so...it seems in the wake of 9/11 and the London Bombings, the world is more in touch with what's going on. Thus britain being able to thwart this.
The Doctor
08-10-2006, 08:14 PM
This figures. I'M FLYING TO IOWA ON THE 31ST!
First time ever on a plane too. Now not only am I nervous about flying, I'm scared shitless!
Glenn
08-10-2006, 08:18 PM
Good thing we stopped the bastards. I agree with the modfather that our intelligence has increased and the world has gotten more in tune with these evets. Kudos to the British Intelligence!
@Nate. There is no reason to be scared. The things you hear about happening to planes happen are very seldom compared to the massive numbers of flights that occur each day. If anything, it would be best to fly now with the increased security at the airports. Don't worry.
FreeYourMind
08-10-2006, 10:12 PM
My friend is still at Heatrow now I guess. She was planning to fly back to Amsterdam Schiphol today...
What a mess.
As much as I think we dropped the ball with 9/11, this right here proves our terrorism intelligence has greatly improved since then.
This would've been terrible had it went through.
Our intelligence didn't do shit. I give 100% of the credit to Scotland Yard, and hope Americans remember that when the republicans try to take credit for this for the 2006 elections.
Nate, don't worry. When you look at the numbers, you have a much better chance of dying in a car crash if you drive to your destination. There are thousands of flights each day, and how many plane crashes are there? One every 2 years, if that? I think the last commercial aviation crash in the US was the one shortly after 9/11 where the plane crashed in Queens, New York. Nearly 5 years ago. There was the one where that Southwest plane slid off the runway in Chicago last year but that doesn't really count since the only death was in the car the plane slid into.
My mates plane home from Ibiza has been delayed by 24 hours because of this.
He came MSN at an internet cafe telling me he was scared shitless because of all the fuss over there.
I think it is diabolical.
Louis
08-10-2006, 11:19 PM
It's amazing what this world has come to, eh?
We used to rarely worry about this stuff. We seemed so care-free and we didn't have to worry if some bastard would come onto the plane and hijack it with weapons and bombs.
Then 9/11 happened. We were all scared shitless, and we were all so affected by the tragedy that we didn't know how anybody would be able to fly again. We all recovered, but we all knew that the world isn't so care-free anymore.
Thank goodness that this plot was foiled. As Derek said, this would have been tragic. If Britain hadn't foiled the plan, the results would have been unimaginable.
This is definitely a step-up in the fight against terror, but there's still a lot to be done.
Thank goodness.
And Nate, don't worry about it. Like Superman says, it is still statistically the safest way to fly.
All I'm gonna say to everyone is don't be effected by this in terms of fear. Whoever the hell is responsable for plotting such acts wants you all to submit to fear, don't.
I'm not bragging in any way at all but over here we've got it sorted out, the day of 7/7 brought Britain to a standstill for a day or two, but it was business as usual after that, that shows we aren't gonna be forced to fear for our lives as long as we're breathing the air.
El Muerto
08-11-2006, 11:10 AM
Our intelligence didn't do shit. I give 100% of the credit to Scotland Yard,
I'd say it was more MI5 thing
They've been tracking the terrorists for months
Minus
08-11-2006, 01:26 PM
My dad's flight from Boston got delayed.
And all of his liquids got taken up.
He had so much booze... and it's all gone. :lol:
Janie Jones
08-11-2006, 04:27 PM
It's bad. 7/11 was bad too. What if the British intelligence didn't do what they did?
It's bad. 7/11 was bad too. What if the British intelligence didn't do what they did?
Do you mean 9/11 or 7/7?
Janie Jones
08-11-2006, 05:43 PM
Actually, and coincidentally, 7/11/2006 was the date of a series of 11 HORRIBLE blasts that hit the epicentre of Mumbai (india)'s population - they attacked local trains, which is like THE LIFELINE of people there. At just the time every office goer was returing home from work too- you cant imagine how many dads and moms just died then/
...Lauren?
08-11-2006, 05:52 PM
Who's doing month/date/year and who's doing date/month/year? I'm cunfused...
Evil Angel
08-11-2006, 07:10 PM
Do you mean 9/11 or 7/7?
nope there are other countries in world besides the united states and canada.kindly be aware of the incidents taking place in those countries too.
Somehow his plot smells of P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N
nope there are other countries in world besides the united states and canada.kindly be aware of the incidents taking place in those countries too.
First of all the subject in hand is partly to do with muslim extremists so the dates 9/11 and 7/7 are most relevent. I thought 7/11 might have been a typo for 9/11 or 7/7.
Second of all...what the hell does Canada have to do with this? 9/11 did indeed happen in America but 7/7 happened in London, in case you don't know that's in England. It's also the city I live in.
Thirdly I'm one quarter Indian so don't make the mistake of thinking I overlook the whole India-Pakistan situation or the Isreal-Lebanon situation for that matter. For future refference you might wanna adress people in a slighty more polite and non-patronising way and not jump to conclusions.
The Doctor
08-11-2006, 10:09 PM
Somehow his plot smells of P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N
Well yes since the people arrested were of Pakistani descent. Makes sense doesn't it?
First of all the subject in hand is partly to do with muslim extremists so the dates 9/11 and 7/7 are most relevent. I thought 7/11 might have been a typo for 9/11 or 7/7.
Second of all...what the hell does Canada have to do with this? 9/11 did indeed happen in America but 7/7 happened in London, in case you don't know that's in England. It's also the city I live in.
Thirdly I'm one quarter Indian so don't make the mistake of thinking I overlook the whole India-Pakistan situation or the Isreal-Lebanon situation for that matter. For future refference you might wanna adress people in a slighty more polite and non-patronising way and not jump to conclusions.
Well said.
Did he just call Canada ignorant when this has nothing to do with Canada? That in return is truely ignorant.
And hadn't it been for intelligence sharing on the Pakistanis part, the British authorities would not have been able to apprehend the terrorists.
I was looking over murder statistics in the US today, and 16,000 people are killed as a result of violent crimes each year (Source. Straight from the FBI themselves (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html).) 16,000 people. So now, I'm trying to figure out why in the hell this country is so worried about terrorism. Assuming this attack would've gone through, about 3,000 people would've died. They targeted 10 airplanes, and 300 is roughly how many people are on a transatlantic flight. So if this went through, that's 6,000 deaths in 5 years from terrorism. That doesn't even come close to the amount of people killed each year in violent crimes. I've got a much better chance of being shot dead while shopping than I do getting killed in a terrorist attack. Not saying we should ignore terrorism, but this really shows how our priorities are wrong. The only reason 9/11 was a big deal was because it was 3,000 people. If the terrorists would've killed those same 3,000 people over the span of a year with guns, no one would even notice.
And, I didn't make this, so I'm not entering it into the contest, but:
http://www.defamer.com/assets/resources/2006/08/liquids-on-a-plane.jpg
Oh boy, stay away from Starbucks and any other shops like it, coffee is now a terrorist threat! (http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060811/23647.htm)
This is starting to get sad. *shakes head*
Darcy
08-12-2006, 04:27 AM
My aunt works at Logan Airport and she had to stay at work really late to help sort shit out. She was majorly pissed off.
Would it be wrong to make a Snakes On A Plane joke?
EDIT: I guess not, because I didn't notice Todd already did it.
El Muerto
08-12-2006, 11:46 AM
I was looking over murder statistics in the US today, and 16,000 people are killed as a result of violent crimes each year (Source. Straight from the FBI themselves (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html).) 16,000 people. So now, I'm trying to figure out why in the hell this country is so worried about terrorism. Assuming this attack would've gone through, about 3,000 people would've died. They targeted 10 airplanes, and 300 is roughly how many people are on a transatlantic flight. So if this went through, that's 6,000 deaths in 5 years from terrorism. That doesn't even come close to the amount of people killed each year in violent crimes. I've got a much better chance of being shot dead while shopping than I do getting killed in a terrorist attack. Not saying we should ignore terrorism, but this really shows how our priorities are wrong. The only reason 9/11 was a big deal was because it was 3,000 people. If the terrorists would've killed those same 3,000 people over the span of a year with guns, no one would even notice.
No further discussion neeeded.
I was looking over murder statistics in the US today, and 16,000 people are killed as a result of violent crimes each year (Source. Straight from the FBI themselves (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html).) 16,000 people. So now, I'm trying to figure out why in the hell this country is so worried about terrorism. Assuming this attack would've gone through, about 3,000 people would've died. They targeted 10 airplanes, and 300 is roughly how many people are on a transatlantic flight. So if this went through, that's 6,000 deaths in 5 years from terrorism. That doesn't even come close to the amount of people killed each year in violent crimes. I've got a much better chance of being shot dead while shopping than I do getting killed in a terrorist attack. Not saying we should ignore terrorism, but this really shows how our priorities are wrong. The only reason 9/11 was a big deal was because it was 3,000 people. If the terrorists would've killed those same 3,000 people over the span of a year with guns, no one would even notice.
Might want to add in the fact that two major buildings were destroyed, too.
Might want to add in the fact that two major buildings were destroyed, too.
Buildings can be rebuilt. Lives can't.
Buildings can be rebuilt. Lives can't.
Exactly.
This figures. I'M FLYING TO IOWA ON THE 31ST!
First time ever on a plane too. Now not only am I nervous about flying, I'm scared shitless!
Another fun fact:
You're more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport than dying in a plane crash :lol:
Another fun fact:
You're more likely to die in a car crash on the way to the airport than dying in a plane crash :lol:
Yes Todd, lets make him afraid of cars instead of planes :lol:
The Doctor
08-13-2006, 03:53 AM
I already am! haha
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