www.uninews.com

'Quake money’ sent to Pak used to finance UK plane bombing plot

Karachi, Aug 12 (UNI)

Money sent to Pakistan for quake rehabilitation was used to fund the Heathrow bomb attack plot that was foiled by British authorities following inputs from their Pakistani counterparts, if an investigation by a leading Pakistani daily is to be believed.

According to the Daily Times, the Muslim Charity of UK remitted a huge amount of money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in December last year as earthquake relief.

But the money in the three accounts in Saudi Pak Bank, Standard Chartered and Habib Bank Ltd was solely for the purpose of financing the foiled bomb plot, the paper said.

According to the report, two of the recipients are British citizens of Kashmir origin while the third is an Islamabad-based builder, also of Kashmir origin.

Officials said all three have been arrested, but it is still not known whether the three had any links to militant organizations such as the Al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

An official said UK National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit authorities asked them to carry out ’discreet enquiries’ about large sums of money being transferred by charities to accounts in Pakistan.

Following the tip off, the three were arrested. Interrogation of the suspects revealed some key elements of the aircraft bombing plan. It was then that Pakistani officials informed British authorities about the plan and the terror attempt was successfully foiled, said an official.

‘‘Had we been even slightly complacent, the perpetrators of this plot might have been able to carry out their operations without little or no problem in the UK,’’ the paper quoted a senior government official, privy to the inquiry as saying.

The official said NTFIU had told them that a huge amount of money had been transferred from Britain to PoK for quake relief efforts two months after the quake.

‘‘Neither the amount nor the purpose for which money was sent caused any concern in the British investigation unit. What raised alarm among British sleuths specialising in finances was the fact that the entire money was remitted to three individuals, not to any organisation or organisations involved in the relief work’’, he said.

‘‘The entire transaction was in pound sterling. It was a huge amount. Had it not gone into the accounts of individuals, nobody would have been bothered,’’ he added.

9W says they suspended the employee and they will carry on an internal investigation as to how was tariq appointed

Immediately after the blasts USA declared that it wont allow any direct flights from Pakistan all must have a halt and re-check at some European destination

Even i feel so

Its getting obvious to the Location of the Epicentre of Terrorism these days.

Any Restrictions on Indian Flights to the Neighbouring country.

regds

MEL

www.uninews.com

Copyright Observer News

U.S. airports testing new tools to detect liquid explosives

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun testing a new tool for detecting liquid explosives to deter possible terror plots, such as the one foiled in Britain last week, according to the latest issue of Time magazine.

 Security industry sources were quoted by Time that the device, Ahura’s FirstDefender, is a handheld chemical identification system about the size of a hardcover book.

 The FBI, U.S. Customs and Immigration and the Department of Homeland Security have already begun using the gadget to detect and identify chemical hazards, but it hasn’t yet been implemented at airports.

 The TSA has recently deployed two explosive detection machines,each for 160,000 U.S. dollars, at Chicago’s Midway International Airport, but those machines, known as puffers, can not identify sealed liquids.

 The agency has yet to put into place FirstDefender devices, which cost about 30,000 U.S. dollars, though it now confirms that it is testing the FirstDefender.

 ‘‘Ports of entry need technology to identify dangerous substances within containers,’’ says Ahura CEO Doug Kahn.

 Older machines used to examine liquids were so large that they were generally anchored to labs. But given the portability of this3.5-pound new tool, the TSA could quickly deploy it in airports nationwide. The gadget is simple enough to use that airport screeners and security officials with just several hours of training could monitor suspicious materials in transit.

 In its latest iteration, the FirstDefender can identify 2,500 liquid and solid substances. The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center issued a recent assessment of the new handheld as an effective portable tool in detecting dangerous substances, including sarin and mustard gas .

 ‘‘The FirstDefender can be suitable for (non-trace) field detection and identification of liquid that may contain CW (chemical weapon) agents,’’ the report concluded.

 The waterproof and shockproof device has already been used by hazmat (hazardous materials) teams in New York and Washington and in military operations, and Ahura has plans to develop an even smaller, cell-phone-size implement.

 How does the technology work? Explosive liquids tend to have strong chemical signatures, which the device can read, even through bottles or other containers. The technique employed, called Raman spectroscopy, uses a laser for optical analysis. After shining a light on a substance, liquid or solid, the device analyzes the optical characteristics of the scatters light that reflects back. ‘‘You can read the substance as if it had a bar code,’’ Ahura founder Daryoosh Vakhshoori explained.

www.uninews.com

Cut back or be banned, says Heathrow

LONDON, Aug 13, 2006 (UNI)

London’s Heathrow airport threatened to ban airlines from the hub if they did not cut flights by 30 percent on Sunday in the wake of a thwarted terror plot, The Times said on Monday.

Tony Douglas, chief executive of Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, instructed all airlines with three or more flights scheduled for Sunday to show a schedule ‘‘demonstrating and documenting a 30 percent reduction in departing passenger flights’’ in an email obtained by The Times.

Sent at 8 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday, the email continued: ‘‘Any airline not complying ... will be considered in breach of the Conditions of Use for Heathrow airport and the use of airport facilities will be denied.’’

British Airways on Sunday also said it had ‘‘complied with a BAA directive to cancel 20 percent of its shorthaul operation tomorrow (Monday)’’.

It also cancelled all of its domestic flights from Gatwick, London’s second-busiest airport.

A BAA spokesman told AFP earlier that the airport operator expected between a fifth and a third of all departing flights from Heathrow would be cancelled on Monday.

He said BAA was ‘‘hoping (cancellations) will be less than 30 percent’’ on Monday. He added that cancellations ‘‘could be 20 percent, but probably not less.’’

Flights into and out of Heathrow and other major British airports were frozen on Thursday when police said they thwarted a plot -- possibly linked to Al-Qaeda -- to put suicide bombers onto US-bound airliners.

 

 

 

www.uninews.com

Airlines angry that London hand luggage ban remains

By Lachlan Carmichael

Copyright Observer News 

LONDON, Aug 14, 2006 

Several airlines expressed frustration Monday with the operator of London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports for delays in lifting security restrictions despite an easing of Britain’s terror alert.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and smaller carrier bmi criticized BAA’s plans to wait until early Tuesday to lift the measures at Heathrow and Gatwick, including the ban on hand luggage.

‘‘We are obviously rather frustrated by this. We have concerns about the whole question of resourcing at Heathrow,’’ Virgin’s director of communications Paul Charles said.

The restrictions have led to hundreds of flight cancellations and delays.

Lowering the alert to ‘‘severe’’ from ‘‘critical’’ early Monday, the government revised its regulation to allow passengers to take on board some cabin baggage as well as laptops and other electronic devices under certain conditions.

The BAA (British Airports Authority) would ‘‘phase this new regulation in over the course of the next 24 hours’’ to give its 6,000 security staff time to get up to speed, its chief executive Stephen Nelson said.

BAA officials said, for example, the ban on hand luggage at Heathrow and Gatwick would not be lifted until early Tuesday.

However, BAA media representatives for Stansted, which also serves London, as well as at the three Scottish airports at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh told AFP that the new measures would be introduced at midday (11000 GMT).

Southampton Airport introduced the new measures earlier Monday, a BAA spokeswoman said there.

A spokesman for Leeds Bradford International Airport, which is not operated by BAA, said the new security arrangements had been implemented Monday.

The transport department has retained its five-day ban on fluids and gels.

British officials, who announced Thursday that they had foiled an alleged plot, suspect that terrorists planned to take liquids that could be assembled into bombs and detonated aboard US-bound planes.

Following is a list of the new arrangements:

-- Each passenger is permitted to carry one item of cabin baggage through the airport security search point.

-- Other bags, such as handbags, may be carried within the single item of cabin baggage. All items carried by passengers will be X-ray screened.

-- Barring a few exceptions, no liquids of any type are permitted through the airport security search point. Items permitted are prescription medicines in liquid form sufficient and essential for the flight (such as diabetic kit), as long as verified as authentic; baby milk and liquid baby food. Accompanying passengers must, however, taste the contents of each bottle or jar.

-- To help their progress through search points, passengers are urged not to include in cabin baggage bottles, flasks, tubes, cans, plastic containers or other items that could contain liquids.

-- All laptops and large electrical items such as large hairdryers must be removed from the bag and placed in a tray so that such items neither obscure nor are obscured by the bag.

-- Pushchairs and walking aids are permitted but must be X-ray screened. Wheelchairs are permitted but must be thoroughly searched.

-- Passengers boarding flights to the United States and items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, will be subjected to secondary search at the gate. Any liquids discovered will be removed from the passenger.

 

www.uninews.com

Britain mulling air passenger profiling at security checks: report

LONDON, Aug 15, 2006 (UNI)

Britain is considering a system of air passenger profiling in the wake of arrests in connection with an alleged aircraft bomb plot, it was reported Tuesday.

But the plan -- similar to a system operated by Israeli airline El Al -- was immediately condemned by one of Britain’s most senior Muslim police officers, who said that could lead to a new offence of ‘‘travelling whilst Asian’’.

The Times said that the Department for Transport (DfT) was considering a system to single out those behaving suspiciously, who have an unusual travel pattern, or a certain ethnic or religious background.

The DfT has been considering such a scheme for the last year and has discussed the practicalities with the British Airports Authority (BAA), which operates seven British airports, the newspaper added without quoting sources.

But officials reportedly believe profiling is potentially fraught with problems, particularly given increasing fears among Britain’s Muslim community that they are being unfairly targeted by anti-terrorism legislation.

A DfT spokesman said they would not be commenting on the reports, which were also criticised by the main Muslim Council of Britain umbrella group.

Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei of London’s Metropolitan Police told the BBC late Monday that intelligence could be used to examine travel history, purchasing and the number of trips a person might take.

But he added: ‘‘It becomes hugely problematic when it’s based on ethnicity, religion and country of origin.’’

The former head of Scotland Yard, Lord John Stevens, wrote in the weekly tabloid the News of the World Sunday that passenger profiling could help reduce the long delays at airports, with a focus on ‘‘young Muslim men’’.

‘‘Islamic terrorism in the West has been universally carried out by young Muslim men, usually of ethnic appearance, almost always travelling alone or in very small groups,’’ he said.

Dizaei said: ‘‘I don’t think there’s a stereotypical image of a terrorist... What you are suggesting is that we should have a new offence in this country called ’travelling whilst Asian’.

‘‘That’s unpalatable to everyone,’’ he added, warning that it could alienate certain communities and leave them unwilling to fight extremism that could be within their midst.

MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Guardian newspaper they, too, were not convinced.

‘‘This kind of thing must be intelligence-led, not appearance led... I hope the government has thought very carefully about this,’’ he said.