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August 10, 2006

New Terror Plot In The UK

A huge terror plot has been foiled in the UK:

A 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 were searching premises with 21 people in custody after arrests in the London area and West Midlands.

High security is causing delays at all UK airports. The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical.

Evidently they were trying to smuggle liquid explosives of some type on board in carry-on luggage.

The British Department of Transport advised all passengers that they would not be permitted to carry any hand baggage on board any aircraft departing from any airport in the country. Passengers faced delays as tighter security was hastily enforced at the country's airports and additional measures were put in place for all flights.

British Airways said some flights were likely to be canceled. Laptop computers, mobile phones, iPods, and remote controls were among items banned from being carried on its planes.

Now, as is sadly the case these days, those first two articles only refer to the people in custody as "British Born", so of course my first reaction, much like Tim Blair's, is to say "Damned Presbyterians."
Certainly CNN gives no helpful information as to their identity. Ah, what's this tidbit in the Times UK:

So far 21 suspects - believed to be British citizens, many of Pakistani origin - have been arrested in overnight raids in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham, but police stressed that the huge, complex, security operation was still ongoing and that there may be further arrests.

On the radio this morning they actually said "muslims." How insensitive; I'm sure the anchors will be fired.

A friend in London this morning told me that he was tired of muslims complaining about feeling picked on. "Not all muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists seem to be muslim," he said, "And I don't recall the Irish complaining about profiling when the IRA was blowing shit up."

Posted by Mr. Bingley at August 10, 2006 06:35 AM