LONDON, 12 August 2006 — The hard task of gathering evidence got under way in earnest yesterday as British police searched several homes and businesses across England. They started questioning 24 suspects arrested on Thursday in dawn raids after unearthing an alleged terror plot to blow up 10 UK flights to the US with liquid chemical bombs smuggled in soft drink bottles.
An interesting twist to the events yesterday is that the tip-off of the alleged plot did not originally come from Pakistan as first claimed but from a member of the British Muslim community who alerted the police in the aftermath of 7/7 and 21/7. As such MI5, the British security service, had been “playing” the alleged plotters for almost a year, with events coming to a head dramatically on Thursday with the raids and the security clampdown at British airports and especially on the trans-Atlantic routes to the US.
The London Evening Standard, critical of British Muslim leaders in the past for failing to speak out against the militants within, in an editorial yesterday stressed “it is encouraging that the current investigation was prompted by a British Muslim, who, after 7/7, saw the need to report his suspicions and so helped save thousands of lives. Those outside the Muslim community need to show it support while its leaders face up to the challenges ahead.” Police also revealed that they had found “useful information” thus far in their searches, but refused to comment on British press reports that they had found airline tickets in the names of some of the alleged plotters for yesterday on United Airlines.
The Evening Standard went even further alleging that next Wednesday 16/8 was to have been the bombing day and that yesterday was the dry run to test whether the alleged plotters could smuggle bomb components through airport security.
Now 16/8 will not become an indelible mark on the terror calendar as the outcome of the police investigation will show. One has to wait and see whether the investigation leads to any successful convictions. The police under new anti-terror legislation can detain terror suspects for up to 28 days without charge. As more revelations are made regarding the alleged plot, it is clear that there is a concerted effort by the authorities to synchronize the various departments of state in helping the investigation. The Bank of England moved quickly to publish the names of 19 suspects detained, and under the orders of Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, froze their assets including bank accounts.
The chancellor invoked powers under the terms of the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order of 2001.
Ed Balls, economic secretary to the Treasury, confirmed that “the Treasury will review the need for further use of our asset-freezing powers as we receive further advice from the police and security services.”
Police raided two Internet cafes in North London and confiscated all the computers on the premises. The financing of the alleged plot, it has been suggested, was done through electronic money transfers from Pakistan in at least two accounts of the suspects.
British Home Secretary John Reid, following another meeting of Cobra, the UK Anti-Terrorism Emergency Committee, told the nation that the “critical” level of terror alert would remain for as long as it was necessary. The home secretary also made a plea for all communities to work together to face the danger.
On the airline travel front, transport chiefs are already saying that the “way we travel will never be the same again”. The UK Department for Transport is considering whether the current restrictions on hand baggage could become permanent.
Perhaps one of the more worrying developments of the events of yesterday is the impact on the British Muslim communities. The police have increased their presence in areas with Muslim populations in the UK to deter a backlash and attacks after the latest terror arrests.
The archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, attacked President Bush over his claim that the West was at war with “Islamic fascists”. “I actually want to see this society becoming a good, neighborly place and you are not going to do it by that kind of language on the ranch in Texas.” He said he did not believe that Islam was the real cause of any terrorist plots. “Most of them are doing it because they are alienated,” he claimed.
Dr. Mohammed Abdul Bari, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the Muslim communities were “fully behind” efforts to prevent attacks and supported curbs on terrorism, but warned of “a distance” growing between them and the police, especially in the aftermath of the raid on a house in Forest Gate in June during which one suspect was accidentally shot and which turned out to be a false alarm. Other Muslim leaders have called on MI5 and the police to better their intelligence, otherwise “more and more innocent people will be harassed and demonised.”
At the same time, Khalid Mahmood, the Muslim Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, warned that some young Muslims were being “sectioned off” and “brainwashed”. And on occasions, “very new converts to the religion” did not have “a fundamental understanding of their own religion”, he said.
Meanwhile, Italian police have arrested 40 people in a security swoop targeting Islamic groups, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. The ministry said in a statement the arrests were carried out throughout Italy “during a special operation.”
