British police say foil plot to bomb aircraft

[Dr Bunsen]

British police say foil plot to bomb aircraft

Reuters

Thursday, August 10, 2006; 1:22 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said on Thursday they have thwarted a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight, arresting a number of people in the London area.

Police said the aim of the plot was to detonate bombs smuggled on board aircraft in hand luggage.

"A major terrorist plot to allegedly blow up aircraft in mid-flight has been disrupted in a joint, pre-planned, intelligence-led operation by the metropolitan police anti-terrorist branch and security services," a police spokesman said.

He said police believes that the intention was particularly to target flights from Britain to the United States.

Police had arrested an unspecified number of people in London during the night. He gave no further details.

[General Lighting]

The Government has put the UK on full alert, there has been a Cabinet Office emergency meeting and LHR now closed to all incoming flights not currently in UK airspace

saw some very "interesting aircraft" in the skies today..

another lesser threat (perhaps overlooked) is that of increased racial tension and civil disturbances in Britain as a reprisal..

[Meep]

All this terrorism stuff is very depressing. :cry: :apathy:

[Shit Robot]

I agree:cry::cry:,I saw in the paper the other day the government had us on a high alert but didnt know it was full alert till I read this post.

[General Lighting]

All this terrorism stuff is very depressing. :cry: :apathy:

I think at present its less though than what we lived through with the IRA - there have been 3 attacks (only one successful) resulting from a problem that has been brewing up since the early 1990s....

But when the IRA was active there seemed to be a bomb every few months in mainland Britain)

what is worrying though is that if we don't think of a better solution there could be up to 20 years of this before we get anything approaching an uneasy peace...

[General Lighting]

I agree:cry::cry:,I saw in the paper the other day the government had us on a high alert but didnt know it was full alert till I read this post.

the alert state has always been relatively high and Britain has been in readiness for both international war and civil conflict since the 1980s.

There has never actually been "peace" in this country!

This alert is very recent; only came in this morning.

At least in Britain we are more prepared for this; I got the impression that Americans had this level of intelligence before 9/11 but were reluctant to take the security measures due to the economic impact of shutting down the airports.

[Shit Robot]

At least in Britain we are more prepared for this; I got the impression that Americans had this level of intelligence before 9/11 but were reluctant to take the security measures due to the economic impact of shutting down the airports.

Yes I think they touched on that in the loose change documentary

[General Lighting]

incidentally I think the real impact isn't going to be from the bombs etc... this country is a surveillance society where stuff like this is often fairly easily stopped before it gets too extreme..

it will be when a group of lads who on a cheap flight for some stag weekend find their holiday is all fucked up due to cancellations/delays/whatever

they spend their time instead kipping in an airport surrounded by angry people and cops with guns...

then they decide to trash the nearest ethnic minority run business they can find as a reprisal, at the very least there is increase racial tension; at worst it drives people from certain communities further towards joining the radical groups

and the circle continues...

[Meep]

This is why I have stopped reading newspapers and watching news. All too depressing. I know escapism is not an solution but as it seems like that nothing else will work either, it's the one I will resort to. :hopeless: :cry: :frown:

And don't say anything about voting as I can't, being a resident foreigner (11 years and counting) so I can't even do that, unless I take a humiliating 'britishness' test and pay loads of money for getting a British passport. :you_crazy

[General Lighting]

This is why I have stopped reading newspapers and watching news. All too depressing. I know escapism is not an solution but as it seems like that nothing else will work either, it's the one I will resort to. :hopeless: :cry: :frown:

And don't say anything about voting as I can't, being a resident foreigner (11 years and counting) so I can't even do that, unless I take a humiliating 'britishness' test and pay loads of money for getting a British passport. :you_crazy
TBH voting is merely a token gesture as the power is often even out of Governments hands - decisions are made elsewhere by big corporates or even by the radical groups who cause this fear - yet cannot be stopped wihtout stopping the free movement of goods and people our modern World depends on.

However it does at least show some sort of opinion to the people in power and if you are a citizen of the Commonwealth you can still vote in British elections; if you are an EU citizen you can vote in British local elections or you should still be able to vote in your home country....

I think that as yet Britain has had a lucky escape and the situation is far better than it could have been. Most of the people alleged to be involved in this have been nicked; no ones been blown up and no shots fired.

Not only did the attack not succeed; at present we are not yet seeing the anger spill over to scuffles and fights in the airport between the plethora of different ethnic groups to be found at any British airport every day.

Also if cops and MI5 are actually managing to catch the alleged attackers this would indicate that decent people from ethnic minority communities are not supporting violence and helping the authorities catch the extremists - otherwise the authorities would not be able to get past the cultural and language barriers - although the terrorists may be "British" they don't always discuss their plans in English!

That is actually something we can still be proud of....

[Acidfairy]

Shorty is finding herself rather busy in work today because of all this.. she works in business travel dealing with corporate bookings with big companies an stuff so she's having to deal with all the cancellations an rebookings for ppl i certainly don't envy her today at all....:hopeless:

["Sound-Guy"]

Bombing aircraft is just plain fucking SICK!:annoyed:

[Acidfairy]

I agree.. coz there is no escape an they know it that's why they do it... maximum casulaties..

["Sound-Guy"]

i just dont understand these morons. Winds me up so bad of how many Random people can just walk into our country and walk all over us. SICK! If we chuck them out then its against there human rights, Where the hell is the logic in that eh??? What about our human rights??? The government never had the plot, let alone lose it. I would love to give that tony blair a piece of my mind.... :bitter:

[Agent Subby]

"I would love to give that tony blair a peace of my mind.... :bitter:"

Blair could well do with some peace of mind instead of piece of mind:groucho:
Sorry for the correction but it was very apt:wink:

[Acidfairy]

I agree.. Tony Blairs lips are sooo superglued to George Bush's ass its unreal...

[Agent Subby]

i just dont understand these morons. Winds me up so bad of how many Random people can just walk into our country and walk all over us. SICK! If we chuck them out then its against there human rights, Where the hell is the logic in that eh??? What about our human rights??? The government never had the plot, let alone lose it. I would love to give that tony blair a peace of my mind.... :bitter:

But the people that have been arrested ARE British.:hopeless:
The root of the problem is Blair continually being Bush's puppet. If we are ever going to solve this terrible situation we are in, then we[the British] must stop supporting the occupation of middle east territory.

[miss bassets]

is frightenin the fact this country is becomin a mini me to the usa in every way imaginable, i read sumwher that thers a possibility of the NHS finances bein governed by a US company?! ne1 else heard about this?

[General Lighting]

i just dont understand these morons. Winds me up so bad of how many Random people can just walk into our country and walk all over us.
anyone can do that in any country in the world if they are angry enough. It is frighteningly easy to build bombs and other weapons these days and they can be made from readily available household objects. In other European countries there have been suicide bombings just by angry individuals sorting out personal disputes

In the USA improvised explosive devices are used to settle disputes routinely (and its of course easier to get gunpowder etc out there as guns are legal!)

Even in Britain fire and explosions are routinely used as weapons. A few months ago some people put a large midlands suburb in darkness by deliberately burning out the 11,000V cables that fed the local electric substation. Its fairly common now to hear of gas explosions and houses being firebombed as a consequence of domestic disputes.

These sorts of attacks are common in many other countries; or are only prevented because people do not have the freedom of movement and speech to plan such attacks.

At least organised terrorist attacks can be stopped easily if the security and surveillance is good enough but I think once an individual gets to the stage they no longer care about their own life (and they all have the decision as individuals to turn back and not carry out the attack) there isn't a lot anyone can do other than try to restrict individuals thought (which is obviously neither possible nor desirable!)

Its a big problem and getting bigger without an easy solution.

[General Lighting]

another thing - the Chinese have a large Muslim minority; who often do not agree with Beijing's policies. Yet you don't see any evidence of Al-Quaeda striking at China..

But would you want to live with a Chinese level of monitoring and surveillance?

[Agent Subby]

"But would you want to live with a Chinese level of monitoring and surveillance"
Most definitely not!

["Sound-Guy"]

and APT = ??????

["Sound-Guy"]

But the people that have been arrested ARE British.:hopeless:
..


ER............... dont think so, they are of Pakistani origin. They may speak english but hell no they aint english

[Raj]

by that definition there are no english as wave after wave of colonists from many different countries have settled and integrated into the UK

so the english are roman, goth, angle [which is where the word english comes from BTW], viking [from denmark, sweden and norway], french [ well norman actually but who is being picky?], dutch, and many more

sorry but to me if they are born here, live here and work here they are by definition british

[Agent Subby]

ER............... dont think so, they are of Pakistani origin. They may speak english but hell no they aint english

If you're born in Britain, you are by definition British.

[Agent Subby]

and APT = ??????

Yes apt as in you stated you want to give him[Bliar] a peace of your mind!
So the word PEACE is very pertinant in this subject.
Hope this clears things up:wink:

[Agent Subby]

Whoops Bliar was a 'Freudian slip'.:groucho: :groucho:

[darkstar]

For anyone interested in more views on this subject

http://forum.clubdogma.com/showthread.php?t=14845

:crazy:

[darkstar]

If we are ever going to solve this terrible situation we are in, then we[the British] must stop supporting the occupation of middle east territory.


I think you'll find that most British people oppose the occupation of middle east territory.

Only some politicians ( and a minority of radical zenophobes ) support this.

This is Blair's idea of democracy - don't listen to anyone ( except God :you_crazy ) and just do whatever you want to regardless of what the majority of the electorate want .....

This situation was caused by the British government after WW 2 - as they " promised " this land to both the Jews and the Palistinians. When the whole situation went to shit - the British government just washed their hands and walked away !

[Agent Subby]

I think you'll find that most British people oppose the occupation of middle east territory.

Only some politicians ( and a minority of radical zenophobes ) support this.

This is Blair's idea of democracy - don't listen to anyone ( except God :you_crazy ) and just do whatever you want to regardless of what the majority of the electorate want .....

This situation was caused by the British government after WW 2 - as they " promised " this land to both the Jews and the Palistinians. When the whole situation went to shit - the British government just washed their hands and walked away !
I didn't mean the British people. I meant the British Government that the British people vote into power.
Hope this clears things up:wink:

[Tank Girl]

sorry but to me if they are born here, live here and work here they are by definition british
Ditto

[globalloon]

i'm glad these guys were caught for 2 reasons

1) so that they couldn't muder 100's of people
2) if they had carried out the bombing, the reaction from UK and US governement would undoubtedly have involved invading more countries (ie. thousands of people murdered)

[darkstar]

2) if they had carried out the bombing, the reaction from UK and US governement would undoubtedly have involved invading more countries


I think that might happen anyway :you_crazy

[General Lighting]

i'm glad these guys were caught for 2 reasons

1) so that they couldn't muder 100's of people
2) if they had carried out the bombing, the reaction from UK and US governement would undoubtedly have involved invading more countries (ie. thousands of people murdered)

and

3) the war would come straight back home as Britains' different ethnic groups fought it out in the streets

["Sound-Guy"]

If these people really are british and want to live here and be classed as british then why do this to the british??? Makes no sense

["Sound-Guy"]

.sorry but to me if they are born here, live here and work here they are by definition british

Have to disagree - I mean if my parents moved to pakistan, then i was born but stayed there and worked there i would still be english, not pakistanian.

[Agent Subby]

Have to disagree - I mean if my parents moved to pakistan, then i was born but stayed there and worked there i would still be english, not pakistanian.

At the end of the day Sound-Guy we are all human beings, and we need to take a close look at the bigger picture as well as thinking about the probable retributions handed out to the ethnic minorities because of what happened today.:hopeless: :hopeless:

[General Lighting]

If these people really are british and want to live here and be classed as british then why do this to the british??? Makes no sense

why do people commit other crimes of violence? why do "friends" or lovers sometimes turn on each other? why did a chap 10 miles up the road from me in a "picture postcard" village decide to kill his girlfriend a few days ago? People can and do brew up hate inside them for years without anyone knowing it; not even their closest relatives and friends.

Also, planning on committing terrorism at an international airport and blowing up a passenger plane in the air is a crime against the whole World... on any aircraft there will be citizens of every nation..

when people have become so alienated from any society and lost all hope in their lives they are capable of this - and it is dangerous to assume that just people from any one nation or culture can do this sort of stuff.

Perhaps some communities are more recipient to "religious" indoctrination and committing group acts but other people commit these acts as individuals (mass killing by an individual is common in the Western countries; but its usually one person committing the act such as random shootings and suicide, nail bombs or even deliberately leaving a car on a level crossing)

I think everybody can be pushed into committing acts of evil or violence if they are influenced in the wrong ways...

doubtless had the plan been carried through there would be similar incidents in other countries in the world; and if countries like Pakistan were just harbouring terrorists; why are their security forces working with MI5 and cops to hand people over?

I think its about time people realised that World War III has actually started (IMO it started on 2001-09-11); that "religions" and "races" are a smokescreen really...

But it isn't like the last two wars between nation states, It is a fight for the planets dwindling resources amongst shadowy groups who have bits of power and want to hold on to this power by any means; it will continue with more and more ferocity until either there is full on warin every country / nuclear missiles are deployed or people sort themselves out and try to reach a diplomatic solution.

Which is it going to be?

[shortylila]

Personally working in the Travel business the heightened security is a good idea as keeps me in a job for a start.

On a serious note though I would rather be safe than sorry and I do think maybe it was a bit overboard. My boss came into work today and told me that Glasgow Central Train Station was swarming with police. About 150 of them. One standing outside every shop and some on the platforms waiting for the trains to come in.

I have to say it was a good thing in a way as after what happened in London they did nothing!

My work was really busy though we had to deal with all the airline policies so we could work out if people would get a refund when they cancelled ... contact all the companies that had people travelling today and tomorrow ( which was hundreds ) and organise all the changes and cancellations. Not what you need at 0830!!

People think being in the travel business means we can do something more than they can and have more information .... to be honest with you we cant do anymore than you plus our info is firstly based by the news and what you hear is what we hear.

I just wish people would stop having a go at us for not being able to anything... we are only doing our job !!

[globalloon]

My boss came into work today and told me that Glasgow Central Train Station was swarming with police. About 150 of them. One standing outside every shop and some on the platforms waiting for the trains to come in.

according to the news :crazy_dru the police are looking for another 5 men

could be that they had some reason to think they were headed for scotland

hence all the activity

[globalloon]

and

3) the war would come straight back home as Britains' different ethnic groups fought it out in the streets

possibly

although there were some touching moments in london in the immediate aftermath of the tube bombings, such as the memorial service in trafalgar square where people really got together as 'londoners', regardless of their ethnicity

i'd like to hang on to that

[Acidfairy]

according to the news :crazy_dru the police are looking for another 5 men

could be that they had some reason to think they were headed for scotland

hence all the activity

Shorty just said hmmm after i explained too that this was prob one of the easiest places to retreat to no border patrols or police to stop u entering scotland that they would have if they tried to go to France or Ireland

[General Lighting]

possibly

although there were some touching moments in london in the immediate aftermath of the tube bombings, such as the memorial service in trafalgar square where people really got together as 'londoners', regardless of their ethnicity

i'd like to hang on to that

fair enough if they were friends and relatives of the victims (and with 50 dead and hundreds injured that would account for a lot of the crowd) but I think 7/7 has definitely knocked race relations in the UK back to the early 1980s (could have been a lot worse though..)

[Acidfairy]

fair enough if they were friends and relatives of the victims (and with 50 dead and hundreds injured that would account for a lot of the crowd) but I think 7/7 has definitely knocked race relations in the UK back to the early 1980s (could have been a lot worse though..)

Yup i think you're right... its like the same idiots that give paediatricians hell coz they think it say paedophiles..

People totally assumed that any muslim was bad and that's crap i lived in Saudi Arabia for 10yrs i've seen the total extremist side to islam.. but i also know that true muslims hate war and are infact total pacifists that alot of what these muslims that are following this so called Jihad are sayin is total nonsense sayin it says this an this in the Koran.. i had to read parts of the Koran at school for Islamic studies when i lived in saudi.. they misinterpret things an twist them..

This in turn leads to narrow minded people misinterpreting what being a Muslim means.. its a lose lose situ in this country just now