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Post Info TOPIC: AIRCRAFT BOMBING PLOT DISRUPTED: Scotland Yard (Heathrow in chaos)
the_380


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RE: AIRCRAFT BOMBING PLOT DISRUPTED: Scotland Yard (Heathrow in chaos)
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malik wrote:


karatecatman wrote:


Praful Patel says India is anyway on alert since the Mumbai train blasts.


AI/IA may inroduce additional pre-boarding checks.




 


I wonder what Praful Patel means. DEL departure was at its usual semi-awake self. At 1:30pm in the afternoon.


Does high alert mean that more security staff sit on more chairs?



not only sit but also sleep

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the_380


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CNN says BA flights were targetted can someone please tell me if Virgin BMI and other carriers were also targetted



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ABN397


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the_380 wrote:

CNN says BA flights were targetted can someone please tell me if Virgin BMI and other carriers were also targetted




From BBC news it appears that the basic plan was to target aircraft flying from the UK to the US-and was not limited to any particular airline.

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the_380


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CNN also said that CO, UA and AA were also targetted

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karatecatman


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www.uninews.com


Australian premier says liquid explosive terror threat could permanently change aviation
CANBERRA, Australia (UNI) 


Aug 11, 2006


Terrorist plans to use liquid explosives aboard passenger airlines could lead to permanent restrictions on hand luggage on Australian international and domestic flights, Australia’s prime minister said Friday.
‘‘The potential use of liquid explosives brings a whole new menacing dimension to the terrorist threat,’’ Prime Minister John Howard told Melbourne radio 3AW.
‘‘That sort of response could well be necessary,’’ he added, referring to the potential for permanent restrictions on liquids and gels in hand luggage that could extend to domestic flights.
British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using liquid explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as ‘‘mass murder on an unimaginable scale.’’
Australian flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd. said higher security checks with bans on liquids and gels in hand luggage would only apply to its flights to the United States.
Howard said Australia’s security level was currently under review in light of the foiled plot.
‘‘It is a reminder sadly to all of us that terrorism is still a very live and menacing threat to the kind of existence that we’ve all taken for granted,’’ Howard said.
The minister responsible for Australia’s top intelligence agency, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, said there is no evidence that anyone in Australia was planning a similar type of terror attack.
Ruddock said Australian airports had the capacity to deal with hand luggage and implement appropriate checks if available intelligence suggested that was required. 


What next? Redesign aircraft minus the overhead lockers?



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karatecatman


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First plot to blow up U.S. airliners foiled by chemistry accident in Philippines
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www.uninews.com


UK terror: could be a copycat plot
Copyright Observer News
By Owen Bowcott in London


Aug 11, 2006
THE GENESIS of plans to detonate bombs simultaneously on a number of civilian airliners goes back to the so-called Bojinka plot by Islamist fundamentalists in the mid-1990s.
 The alleged operation foiled in the UK has similarities to attacks planned in the Philippines and organised by two prominent jihadi figures: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Yousef.
 KSM, as he is known in US intelligence circles, was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Yousef was the alleged organiser of the underground bombing of New York’s World Trade Centre in 1993. ‘‘Bojinka’’ means ‘‘loud bang’’ or ‘‘explosion’’ in Serbo-Croat, a term supposedly adopted by KSM after fighting in the Balkans.
 The two jihadists moved to the Philippines in 1994 to develop their plans to strike at the United States. The operation they proposed relied on smuggling liquid-based explosives on board scheduled passenger services. The aim was to bring down as many as a dozen flights, killing up to 4,000 on board planes bound for Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and New York.
 The plot was foiled when a fire broke out in an Manila apartment, which had been converted into a bomb factory.
 Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine police intelligence officer who helped uncover Bojinka, said al-Qaida had to be considered as a suspect in the UK plot.
 


                                                    ***


www.uninews.com


First plot to blow up U.S. airliners foiled by chemistry accident in Philippines


Copyright Observer News


By ROBERT H. REID


Aug 11, 2006


A mysterious chemical fire in a seedy Philippine hotel in January 1995 foiled the first plot to blow American airliners out of the sky with liquid bombs — a grisly scenario allegedly planned by extremists arrested in Britain.


British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage in a plan that police described as ‘‘mass murder on an unimaginable scale.’’


The alleged plot was grimly reminiscent of a plan developed in late 1994 and early 1995 by Ramzi Yousef, who is serving a life sentence without parole in the United States for masterminding the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.


Yousef planned to blow up a dozen U.S. airliners over the Pacific and even carried out a test bombing in December 1994, smuggling nitroglycerine onto a Philippine Airlines jet in a contact lens solution bottle.


The explosive detonated near Okinawa, killing a Japanese man after Yousef had gotten off the plane in Cebu, Philippines. The plane managed to land safely in Okinawa.


At the time, however, authorities had no idea of the link between the blast and Yousef. That would come later after an intensive investigation of the strange events that unfolded on the night of Jan. 6, 1995, in Suite 603 of the Dona Josefa apartment-hotel, located near Manila’s raucous red-light district.


A month before, two Middle Eastern men had checked into the hotel, which offered low-cost, long-term accomodations. It was about 200 yards (182 meters) down the street from the residence of the Vatican envoy — where Pope John Paul II was to stay while attending the World Youth Day festivities the following month.


One of the men registered as Naji Haddad and listed his nationality as Moroccan. Police later determined that Haddad was Ramzi Yousef. His companion was Abdul-Hakim Murad, a Pakistani who grew up in Kuwait.


The new tenants immediately attracted suspicion.


Hotel staff noticed a series of Middle Eastern-looking men shuttling in and out of the apartment, often bringing boxes and metal pipes. Manila had been rocked by a series of small explosions in recent weeks, and the local press was full of warnings about extremists within the country’s Muslim minority.


The neighborhood watch association reported the suspicious activity to the police, who advised they had no legal grounds to search the room. But police were concerned about security for the upcoming papal visit and advised the hotel staff to keep a close watch on Suite 603.


On the night of Jan. 6, six days before the pope was to arrive, security guard Roman Mariano saw Yousef and Murad, whom the hotel knew as Ahmed Saeed, running down the stairs. ‘‘They seemed upset,’’ Mariano said.


Moments later, a security guard reported smoke billowing from Suite 603.


Firemen were summoned and the room filled with acrid fumes. Yousef had disappeared in the confusion but Murad explained they were just fireworks for a delayed New Years’ Eve celebration.


Firemen left but the police returned later and searched the apartment thoroughly. They found explosives, wires, Bibles, pictures of the pope and maps of the papal route. Police staked out the apartment and were waiting when Murad returned about 2 a.m.


Under intensive interrogration over time, Murad gave up a plot — to kill the pope and blow up American planes. Corraborating evidence was found on a laptop and diskettes found in Suite 603.


Three days after Murad’s arrest, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a security alert for all American airliners flying over the Pacific, including a ban on hand-carried liquids, aerosols and shaving cream.


Yousef slipped out of the country and made his way to Pakistan, where he was arrested a month later and sent to the United States. Murad was extradited to the United States the following April and testified against Yousef.


Both are serving sentences of life without parole at the Florence Super-Max federal prison in Colorado.



 



-- Edited by karatecatman at 15:21, 2006-08-11

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karatecatman


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UK terror: airlines fear tight security will cost business
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www.uninews.com


UK terror: airlines fear tight security will cost business


Copyright Oberver News 



By Dan Milmo in London and Andrew Clark in New York


Aug 11, 2006


UK AND US airlines were counting the cost of the transatlantic bomb plot yesterday (AUG10) as industry experts warned of serious financial consequences if security restrictions are maintained permanently.


 British Airways cancelled 400 flights to and from London Heathrow and London Gatwick after authorities blocked incoming short-haul flights. Cancellation notices appeared on departure boards across Europe as carriers including Alitalia and Air France grounded planes destined for Heathrow, citing concerns that Europe’s busiest airport was ‘‘saturated’’ with passengers.


 Yesterday’s alert is the latest bout of disruption for an industry that has struggled to make a collective profit since the 9/11 attacks threw it into financial turmoil. Carriers affected by the delays were saddled with multi-million pound Sterling running costs yesterday as aircraft were left on the tarmac and check-in staff turned away passengers. An estimated 12,000 transatlantic passengers were affected, with every cancelled long-haul flight costing around GBP100,000.


 Analysts estimated that BA could lose up to GBP40m from the delays, while easyJet incurred an estimated multi-million pound cost by cancelling 300 flights, or more than a third of its daily schedule. Both airlines hope to recoup revenues through passengers taking rescheduled flights or booking alternative journeys.


 Airlines must wait and see what effect yesterday will have on the public’s appetite for air travel.


 Chris Yates, an airport security analyst at Jane’s Information Group, said the bomb plot would probably not deter British travellers but the effect could be more significant on the other side of the Atlantic: ‘‘Here in the UK, passengers take a much more relaxed view of security alerts than they do in the US. After 9/11 we have become accustomed to the need for higher security. Time will tell, but I am not convinced that we will see a marked downturn in people flying. But the US is a sensitive market when it comes to travel and threat, so we may see consequences for the US side.’’


 The security crisis could jeopardise the fragile early stages of a recovery for America’s cash-strapped airlines, which have been enjoying a revival in demand for travel through the summer. George Bush warned that travellers ‘‘will be inconvenienced’’ over the coming weeks - a message that airlines were dreading.


 Shares in Continental Airlines and AMR, American Airlines’ parent, fell by around 6%. According to US reports, the operators targeted by the plot were Continental, American and United Airlines.


 American Airlines yesterday cancelled three transatlantic flights. Experts said that in addition to the immediate cost of disruption, images of long queues at airports would hit demand.


 John Heimlich, chief economist at the US Air Transport Association, said: ‘‘We’ll have to see what security measures are introduced as a result of this situation. We have a lot of shorter trips in the US and the airport experience is a significant factor in decisions of whether to travel by air.’’


 Financial analysts also warned yesterday’s increased security measures could damage the industry if they are implemented over the long term.


 Andrew Lobbenberg, an analyst at ABN Amro, said: ‘‘If the current measures endure for a long time the effect [on airlines] could be material. If they ease back over a short period of time, then people will look back at today as being irrevelant in the context of the global airline industry.’’


 Shares in European airlines fell yesterday as investors braced themselves for another prolonged bout of uncertainty across the industry. British Airways stock fell 5%, with Ryanair falling 1.5%. Industry insiders expressed concerns yesterday that the enhanced scrutiny of baggage, and limitations on hand luggage, will be put in place permanently and saddle airlines with extra running costs. Although airports have to shoulder the cost of extra security staff and improved baggage scanners, those costs would then be passed on to airlines with an inevitable impact on ticket prices, analysts warned. BAA - the owner of Heathrow, London Stansted and London Gatwick - said the restrictions would be in place for the ‘‘foreseeable future’’.


 The cost of heightened security for an airline is underlined by Israel’s El Al, which has the most stringent safety measures in the industry and has struggled to attract financial backers as a result. Mr Yates said that airports could be forced to acquire more sophisticated hand baggage screening machines. Current models are less powerful than the x-ray devices for hold luggage and would struggle to detect liquid explosives. The latest models, capable of detecting the liquid bombs apparently involved in this plot, cost about $180,000 per machine. Heathrow’s Terminal One has six hand baggage machines, which would cost more than GBP500,000 to replace.


 



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the_380


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RE: AIRCRAFT BOMBING PLOT DISRUPTED: Scotland Yard (Heathrow in chaos)
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Cant believe it CNN says that 10 aircrafts were targetted

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the_380


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Yesterday's news dont know how many are aware


Hijacking Scare On Qatar Airways Jet
Plane Turns Around After Fight Between Passenger And Flight Attendants

(AP) A fight between a passenger and flight attendants on a Qatar Airways plane sparked a hijacking scare Thursday, prompting the plane to return to Amman on a day of increased tensions on flights after a foiled terror plot in Britain


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/10/world/main1884338.shtml


Smart people have posted a QR A380 picture


 



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karatecatman


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Aug 11, 2006, 10.50 p.m.


NDTV and CNN-IBN say that one of the men arrested in connection with the London Terror Plot is a Jet Airways employee in London (working in Heathrow).


 



-- Edited by karatecatman at 00:01, 2006-08-12

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vivekman


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Oh my God!  Jet Airways can kiss their US dreams bye-bye and risk losing their UK licence as well if this is proved!!

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karatecatman


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CNN-IBN has more details now calling it Breaking NEWS on Aug 11, 2006 at 11.25 pm


Tariq, 23 y/o, (nationality not known) is one of the 24 men arrested in conection with the London Terror Plot.


His full name is Amin Asmin Tariq and was working in the security division of Jet Airways at Heathrow.


He was arrested from Walthanstow, London and after data was provided by the Bank of England. (Bank of England has provied much of the detaisl about all the men and this is what also helped bust  the plot). 


 


 



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HAWK21M


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How is 9W only responsible.Is not Airport security clearence given post Police Verification by the authorities.


Although I agree it could cause a setback def.


regds


MEL



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karatecatman


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News has been confirmed by the other two channels --- NDTV and Times Now.


Headlines Today has just started.  



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karatecatman


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Aug 11, 2006, 11.56 pm


NDTV says the person is a British passport holder


Was working in the Customer Relations Dept at Heathrow for Jet, and joined Jet Airways in May 2006.


Jet Airways to make a detailed statement in London on this tomorrow.



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vivekman


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People with vested interests will be quick to pounce on the fact that it was a Jet Airways employee who was involved. The US based carrier - Jet Airways Inc. had alleged in the past that 9W has links with terror outfits.


Lets wait and watch what Jet Airways management has to say about this.


HAWK21M wrote:


How is 9W only responsible.Is not Airport security clearence given post Police Verification by the authorities.



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the_380


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This can led 9W into deep trouble their dream of flying to Europe may be sealed forever...


As it is UK govt was not much interested to let 9W to fly after USA denied following links to Dawood



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himmat01


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9W cannot be held responsible for the acts committed by it's employees. All the suspects arem UK citizens, should we hold UK responsible for their acts?

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http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1046801


Security costs to hit airlines


Praveena Sharma
Saturday, August 12, 2006  00:46 IST


BANGALORE: The foiled terror plot to bomb US-bound flights from Heathrow airport is likely to bruise the already beleaguered Indian airlines operating domestic and overseas flights.
 
National carrier Air India is considering installing infrastructure for biometric identification of passengers, which captures their profile and feature to convert it into barcode on his boarding pass.
 
“This barcode will be tallied once more when he is boarding the aircraft. This will avoid swapping of passenger,” said Air India spokesperson S Venkat.
 
The biometric identification system could cost anywhere between Rs 5 crore and Rs 6 crore. Venkat said he expects the resumption of the security surcharge that was introduced after 9/11 incident, but withdrawn when the situation in the aviation sector stabilised.
 
After the 9/11 attack, Air India had upped its spend on beefing up its security. It is once again gearing up to upgrade its security system to reduce the travel risk on its flights.
 
Domestic carriers are also bracing themselves for a minor impact of the UK aviation terror plot. Budget airline operator SpiceJet Ltd, CEO, Siddhanta Sharma expects a marginal jump in operational costs.
 
On the insurance front, airlines are not expecting an immediate blow. “The insurance companies will not hike insurance premium overnight,” says GoAir chief commercial officer Raj Halve.
 
Halve is also not expecting load factors to slump in the wake of the foiled terror plot. “Just like Mumbai’s local trains were packed with passengers the very next day after the 7/11 blasts, we will see people returning back to skies,” says Halve.


 


Story on AI's biometric checks is in a separate thread "AI to go biometric". 



 



-- Edited by karatecatman at 13:35, 2006-08-12

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Liquid explosives among many terrorist tools Israel has been on guard against for years
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www.uninews.com


Liquid explosives among many terrorist tools Israel has been on guard against for years


 


By ARTHUR MAX


Copyright Observer News 


JERUSALEM, Aug 12, 2006


Airports have the technology to detect liquid explosives, but it’s a time-consuming process and must be coupled with passenger profiling to narrow the pool of suspects, Israeli aviation security experts said Friday.


Security engineers are racing to devise new defenses against the ingenuity of dedicated bombers. But even if the latest threat to passenger aircraft is eventually neutralized, terrorists have many more ways to blow up an airplane, the experts warned.


‘‘There are all kinds of ways to smuggle in explosives,’’ said Yoram Schweitzer, terrorism expert at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv. ‘‘In this case, the only reason they were caught was because of good intelligence.’’


In the aviation world, the Israeli national airline El Al has been the No. 1 target for terrorists ever since one of its airliners was hijacked in 1968 to Algeria. Since then, Israel’s planes, airline personnel and its traveling citizens have been attacked by gunmen, bombers and more hijackers.


A former El Al security chief, Tuvia Livneh, said would-be bombers have been caught with liquid explosives in the past. ‘‘This is not new at all,’’ said Livneh, now head of a private security company, Sital International.


He said countermeasures have been developed, but are rarely used because they are complicated and take too much time, requiring checks of tens of thousands of passengers processed through a major airport every day.


Ehud Keinon, an explosives expert at the Technion Research Institute in Haifa, said the peroxide-based liquid chemical compound uncovered by British authorities in a foiled plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes was probably triacetone triperoxide, or TATP.


‘‘The raw materials to make this compound are available anywhere, in hardware stores, agricultural stores, pharmacies, supermarkets,’’ he said. ‘‘And they’re really cheap. I have calculated that to bring down an airplane it will cost you, at retail prices, $35 (euro27) .’’


Keinon has developed a single-use disposable peroxide detector, which is unsuitable for use on a massive scale, at a cost of $20 (euro15) a unit. Still, he said, airline security companies have shown an interest in his tester, and he plans to develop it for large-scale use in coming months. ‘‘There’s a long line of customers,’’ he said.


El Al refuses to discuss specific equipment employed to sniff out potentially dangerous chemicals, which can be part of an explosive chain of innocent looking material. Even duty-free liquor is highly combustible and can be used to fuel an explosion.


One device on the market, developed by the U.S. company Guardian Technologies of Herndon, Virginia, uses image-analysis software attached to existing X-ray screeners and circles items matching the density of known explosives.


‘‘If we detect any explosive items, it will put a big red box over the image so the screener can take a better look and do more screening,’’ said Steven Lancaster, the company’s vice president. The software costs $50,000 (euro39,000) to $100,000 (euro78,000) per unit, he said.


‘‘Explosives look the same as any other organic items. You can mold it into any shape, so you can’t do shape recognition,’’ he said in a telephone interview. ‘‘We basically bombard the image with algorithms that allow us to begin to separate the items and look at unique areas of interest. It takes only a few seconds and we are able to establish unique signatures,’’ he said.


But Israeli security experts still put their faith in the human factor.


‘‘In the end, for the attackers and the defenders, the main issue is not the equipment. It’s what quality of humans they have,’’ said Leo Gleser, of the security consultancy firm ISDS. A highly trained security agent who can spot a suspicious passenger is the best defense against a would-be bomber ready to kill himself.


‘‘In Israel, we use profiling. That means you learn your enemy, learn the way he is going to attack you, and once you know that, you build up your system,’’ said Gleser, a former sky marshal and El Al security officer.


Profiling goes beyond racial appearances. ‘‘Your behavior is different when you know this is your last day,’’ he said.


Livneh says the greatest threat to civil aviation today is not from on-board bombs but from sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons, some of which are easily obtainable on the international arms market. Terrorists with missile launchers don’t have to pass through airport security, he said.


Three years ago, an Israeli civilian flight had a narrow escape when two missiles missed it as it took off from Mombassa, Kenya.


The latest anti-missile deflection device was put on the civilian market last December, based on a missile warning system and diversion flares. Called Flight Guard, it is in wide use with the Israeli military and has been bought by several countries for use by their heads of state, Livneh said.



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