The United Kingdom named 19 people on Friday suspected of a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners and ordered their assets frozen, a day after police said they had foiled ”murder on an unimaginable scale”.
United States officials said suspected suicide bombers were just days from simultaneous attacks on up to 10 aircraft flying from Britain to the US, raising the spectre of strikes to rival the September 11 2001 attacks on the US.
News of the arrests caused chaos at Britain’s airports at the height of the holiday season, with hundreds of flights cancelled. Strict security measures were still in place on Friday, causing long queues.
British airport operator BAA said on Friday a ban on short-haul flights to London’s Heathrow had been lifted, while British Airways said it expected about 70% of its short-haul flights to operate on Friday.
In Britain, all hand luggage was banned on flights. On both sides of the Atlantic, authorities banned liquids and gels from bags being carried on to aircraft, and travellers with babies were forced to taste their baby food before boarding.
Police said the plan was to blow up planes with chemical bombs smuggled on board disguised as drinks. The US Homeland Security Department said the 24 people arrested were British.
The Bank of England, acting on instructions from the government, published the names and addresses of 19 suspects, saying it would be illegal to release their funds.
Those arrested in a series of overnight raids are aged from 17 to 35 and live in east London, the south-eastern town of High Wycombe and in Britain’s second city of Birmingham.
John O’Connor, a former member of London’s serious crime squad, said it was almost unprecedented to release the names of people who had not yet been charged with a crime.
Pakistan arrests
The suspected plot came to light 13 months after four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people on London’s transport network.
Pakistan said it had played an important role in thwarting the suspected plot. A senior government official said Pakistan arrested two Britons of Pakistani descent last week along with five others.
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said al-Qaeda might have been involved but it was too early to draw conclusions. British police have played down direct involvement by the global militant group.
Last month, al-Qaeda called on Muslims to fight those backing Israel’s strikes on Lebanon and warned of attacks unless US and British forces were pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Several al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding in Pakistan or across the border in Afghanistan.
At least two of the British Islamist militants who blew up underground trains in London last year had visited Pakistan months before the attack, raising suspicions they had ties to militants in Pakistan.
British Home Secretary (Interior Minister) John Reid said police were confident all the main figures had been caught.
US TV network ABC quoted unidentified US officials on Thursday as saying five suspects were still on the loose.
However, a British police spokesperson said on Friday they had arrested everybody they wanted to arrest.
”Clearly there might be other people out there who are part of it. We might turn things up that suggest there are other people out there,” she said.
British security sources said they had been watching the suspects for eight months. — Reuters