Security rai
sed to 'c ritical'

Plane Terror Plot Thwarted Updated: 09:13, Thursday Aug
ust 1 0, 2006

Police say they have disrupted a major plot to blow up
as many as 20 planes over UK and US cities with explosive d
evices smuggled aboard as hand luggage.

Police are have arrested 20 people in London - the culm
ination of a covert counter-terrorist operation lasting se
v eral months.

Big queues were building up at UK airports as passenger
s trying to board international flights were not being all
o wed to carry on normal hand luggage.

Security sources are said to be believe that liquid exp
losives would have been used and could therefore be missed
during the x-ray screening of such luggage.

Queue s at Heathrow

Sky News' Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said he had
been told the threat was imminent and those arrested were m
ainly young, British-born Asian men.

The Home Secretary John Reid said the alleged plot was
a "major threat" to bring down a number of planes.

The Home Office's level of security - indicating public
risk - has been raised from 'severe' to 'critical'.

The US government has also raised its threat assessment
to the highest level for commercial flights from Britain t
o America.

Fl ights have been canc
elled

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said: "We
believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly d
isrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat
has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwart
e d."

In Britain, there have been lengthy queues at
most airports with many domestic flights cancelled.

Flights scheduled into Heathrow were cancelled - a
part from those already in the air.

Flights to Britain from some continental cities were&am
p;nb sp;also cancelled.

The British Airports Authority urged passengers not to
go to Heathrow unless absolutely necessary.

:: Security experts said such an attack would have 
; ;a precedent - during the 1990s, a plot was foiled to blo
w up 12 Western airliners simultaneously in Asia.

The plot, which would have killed thousands, was scuppe
red when plans were found in the Philippines base of terro
r ist Ramzi Yousef who also planned the 1993 World Trade Ce
nt re bombing.

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