The Bank of England Friday named 19 of the 24 people arrested as alleged participants in a plot to blow up several transatlantic flights. The Guardian reports that the bank named the suspects when it froze their assets after being instructed to do so by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
The oldest of the named suspects is 35 and the youngest 17. Thirteen are from east London – nine from Walthamstow, one from Chingford, one from Leyton, one from the Limehouse and Poplar area and one from Clapton.
Four are from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and the other two are from Birmingham and Stoke Newington, north London. More suspects may have their assets frozen, said Treasury spokesman Nic Stevenson. "The list may grow bigger as the process evolves," he said.
The BBC reports that Pakistani police also have seven other people in custody, including two Britons of Pakistani origin. The men were arrested in raids last week.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the decision to arrest a large number of suspects in Britain was directly linked to similar arrests a few days ago in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. The Associated Press quoted an unnamed Pakistani intelligence official as saying an Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago helped in "unearthing the plot."
"The major work was done by the British agents, but they got a major clue from Pakistan," the official said.
The Independent reports that the Pakistani government also says the two Britons arrested in Lahore and Karachi last week provided key information about the bombing plot.
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The Washington Post said the original surveillance was based on a tip from a member of Britain's Muslim community. After last year's July 7 bombing in London, he reported "general suspicions" about an acquaintance.
"It's not like three weeks ago all of a sudden MI5 knew about this plot and went to work," a US law-enforcement official said, speaking of the British security service. "They'd had a concern about these guys for some time, for months."
The Independent reports that the surveillance of the suspects – which included women and a white British man who had converted to Islam – continued for months after the original tip.
Information from phone taps and bugging devices began to build a picture of a well-organized and motivated group, who were inspired by the idea of a global jihad and sympathetic towards the aims of Al Qaeda. Clear links with Pakistan and north Africa were established, including several visits to Pakistan, but the intelligence failed to uncover a "Mr Big" from Al Qaeda pulling the strings. It initially seems that, as with the July 7 suicide bombers, who killed 52 people in London last year, the plotters were a mixture of young people radicalised while living in Britain and influenced by travelling abroad.
The details of the plot also began to emerge. An experienced counter-terrorism officer described the findings as "bloody scary stuff". The plotters were allegedly planning to commit phased attacks in which three or four aircraft would be blown up over the sea, thereby destroying any clues about how the bombs were smuggled on board.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the decision to arrest the suspects and expose the plot began mid-week in London.
The chain of events started in Whitehall on Wednesday afternoon when civil servants met to discuss how to deal with the threat to blow up flights. The officials included members of the Transport Security Contingency Directorate, or Transec, the body that also handled Whitehall's response to the bombings in London last July.
The strategic decisions – which led to an estimated 100,000 passengers being left stranded at home and abroad – were not made until many hours later.
FoxNews reports that the group had also been penetrated by an undercover agent. British intelligence, however, discounted reports from the US that the suspected bombers had planned to bring down the plans over US cities. Under a new antiterrorist law, British authorities may hold suspects for up to 28 days before they have to decide to file charges.
The Washington Post also reports that the plot shows hints of Al Qaeda, which signals that, although it has absorbed heavy hits over the past five years, it has "survived and adapted."
Elements of the suspected plot reflect their assessment of a newly evolved Al Qaeda strategy that depends – unlike the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – on the Internet; indirect, local recruitment of disaffected Muslim youth; and an emphasis on European passport-holders less likely to be stopped at airports.
"It tells you that the enemy, as the military is fond of saying, is both thinking and adaptable," one official said. "They've gone through a thorough process, given the increase of security that we've done on flying planes, of thinking, 'Is there a way we can still get on board and take airplanes down?' . . . This is an extremely talented, thinking group."
- Bush seeks political gains from foiled plot (Agence-France Presse)
- Pentagon officials quit at agency linked to bribes (New York Times)
- Cheney: Lieberman's loss will encourage Al Qaeda (New York Daily News)
- Plan destroyed (National Review Online)
- It's Reid who doesn't get it (Guardian)
Feedback appreciated. E-mail Tom Regan.
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