UK remains on critical alert level

13 April 2012

The UK remains on a critical level of alert against terrorism and air passengers at UK airports are expected to face widespread disruption again following the introduction of new anti-terrorism measures including a ban on hand luggage.

The plot, which was described as an attempt to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by blowing up passenger jets, may have been thwarted just days before it was due to be carried out.

The terrorists' plan was to detonate liquid-based based explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on aircraft leaving UK airports for the US.

If successful, the plot - which US officials said bore some of the hallmarks of al Qaida - would have been a terrorist "spectacular" on a par with the 9/11 atrocity.

Home Secretary John Reid said it would have caused death on an "unprecedented scale".

A joint investigation by police and MI5 reached a critical point on Wednesday night and anti-terror officers swooped in the early hours of Thursday, arresting 24 young Britons of Pakistani origin in London, the Thames Valley and Birmingham.

One television network in the United States reported that five suspects wanted in connection with the plot were still on the run in the UK. But a police source said officers were confident the key players had been arrested in the overnight raids.

US intelligence officials revealed that the terrorist attack was aimed at blowing up as many as 10 planes on transatlantic flights, and plotters hoped to stage a dry run within two days. The actual attack would have followed within days.

There were also claims that the terrorists could have been planning to bring down airliners over major cities, either in the UK or US. It has been suggested that the plot intended to target aircraft from a number of different airports, within and outside London.

The airlines targeted were United, American and Continental, which fly to New York, Washington and California, US officials revealed.

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