OMEN
08-10-2006, 01:15 PM
Police have foiled a major plot to "commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by destroying up to 10 passenger jets in mid-air.
The targets were flights leaving UK airports to the US.
Anti-terror police arrested 21 people in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham on Wednesday night as stringent new security measures were imposed on all UK airports. West Midlands Police confirmed that two men had been arrested in Birmingham under the Terrorism Act on Thursday.
A ban on hand luggage, along with other checks and precautions, led to chaos at airports, where scores of flights were cancelled and massive queues built up.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson told reporters at New Scotland Yard that the plot was designed to cause "untold death and destruction".
He added: "This was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
Searches were ongoing at a number of addresses, he added.
Sources indicated that the majority, if not all, of those arrested were British.
Senior sources said the terrorists were believed to be planning to blow up as many as nine aircraft in a simultaneous attack.
The majority of those arrested were understood to be of Pakistani origin.
Virgin
The targets were flights leaving UK airports to the US.
Anti-terror police arrested 21 people in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham on Wednesday night as stringent new security measures were imposed on all UK airports. West Midlands Police confirmed that two men had been arrested in Birmingham under the Terrorism Act on Thursday.
A ban on hand luggage, along with other checks and precautions, led to chaos at airports, where scores of flights were cancelled and massive queues built up.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson told reporters at New Scotland Yard that the plot was designed to cause "untold death and destruction".
He added: "This was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
Searches were ongoing at a number of addresses, he added.
Sources indicated that the majority, if not all, of those arrested were British.
Senior sources said the terrorists were believed to be planning to blow up as many as nine aircraft in a simultaneous attack.
The majority of those arrested were understood to be of Pakistani origin.
Virgin