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| Foiling jet plot 'a close thing' | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Security staff and police were racing against time when they foiled a plot to blow up airliners, experts have said. | |
| Scotland Yard's counter terrorism chief said the arrest of the three would-be bombers was "a relatively close thing". | |
| The operation also had to be brought forward after alleged US pressure led to the arrest a man linked to the trio. | |
| On Monday, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, were convicted of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks. | On Monday, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, were convicted of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks. |
| 'Unimaginable scale' | |
| John McDowall, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said of their arrest: "It was a relatively close thing. It wasn't something that we never felt that we had control of. But our interests are always the interests of public safety." | |
| Security officials on both sides of the Atlantic believe the men wanted to kill thousands in the air and possibly more on the ground in a wave of attacks causing more devastation than the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York. | |
| We couldn't gamble with the prospect that if the cell we were watching was alerted... then all the things we'd built up... would have been lost potentially Andy HaymanFormer head of Met police specialist operations | |
| The convictions followed two trials and an operation which cost more than £35m, straining UK-US relations at times. | |
| MI5 surveillance on the terror cell was being followed at the very top level of American politics, it has emerged. | |
| UK intelligence officers believed the plot was directed by al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan, including a British man - Rashid Rauf - from Birmingham, now thought to be dead. | |
| Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in 2006, amid claims of White House pressure. | |
| The president and his advisers were said to have been so concerned about the threat to America, they encouraged the Pakistanis to arrest Rauf. This has been denied by former advisers to President Bush. | The president and his advisers were said to have been so concerned about the threat to America, they encouraged the Pakistanis to arrest Rauf. This has been denied by former advisers to President Bush. |
| US actions allegedly caused intense annoyance to the UK authorities who had the suspects under surveillance, as it meant they had to bring the operation forward in a hurry. | |
| Officers from Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command had what they say was "good coverage" of the suspects on that date and were waiting for more definite evidence before acting. | |
| Tony McNulty: Convictions were a vindication | |
| Michael Clarke, director of defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said Rauf was picked up after the US secretly dispatched an envoy called Jose Rodriguez to Pakistan. | Michael Clarke, director of defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said Rauf was picked up after the US secretly dispatched an envoy called Jose Rodriguez to Pakistan. |
| He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The British were hopping mad about that because it meant... they had no alternative but to move in on this plot before all the evidence was as mature as possible. | |
| "There is a general belief in British security circles that the dispatch of Rodriguez to Pakistan came straight from the White House." | "There is a general belief in British security circles that the dispatch of Rodriguez to Pakistan came straight from the White House." |
| Scotland Yard's former head of specialist operations, Andy Hayman, said securing the arrests from a "standing start" after Rauf's arrest was a "very difficult challenge". | |
| He told the BBC: "We couldn't gamble with the prospect that if the cell we were watching was alerted by that arrest, then all the things we'd built up along with other colleagues from the security services would have been lost potentially." | |
| The economic consequences would have been very, very severe. Sir Ken MacdonaldFormer head of CPS | |
| Mr Hayman also said he believed they foiled "our UK 9/11". | |
| The arrests of the plotters in August 2006 caused chaos to international aviation and prompted the current restrictions on liquids. It was the UK's biggest terror investigation. | |
| At the time of his arrest, ringleader Ahmed Ali had identified seven US and Canada-bound flights to blow up over the Atlantic within a two-and-a-half-hour period. | |
| Sir Ken Macdonald, former head of the Crown Prosecution Service and Director of Public Prosecutions, said the plot would have caused "mass murder on an unimaginable scale". | |
| 'Real vindication' | |
| He told the BBC: "If this plot had succeeded we would have had air travel paralysed for a considerable period, we would have had serious damage to trade relations between the US and UK. | |
| "The economic consequences would have been very, very severe. This was by some way the most serious terrorist plot during my five years as DPP." | |
| The courage of British authorities in persisting with the prosecution of the airline bomb plotters has been praised. | |
| The verdicts were a vindication of Britain's intelligence efforts, former security minister Tony McNulty said. | |
| I know we are all safer because of their work Tony Blair Liquid bomb plot: what happened The e-mails sent by the bombers Airline trial: The verdicts | |
| Mr McNulty told the BBC: "There were many, straight after these arrests, who were saying 'Oh, it's just another attack on the Muslim communities, it's just another plot that will be seen to be not quite what the authorities are saying'." | Mr McNulty told the BBC: "There were many, straight after these arrests, who were saying 'Oh, it's just another attack on the Muslim communities, it's just another plot that will be seen to be not quite what the authorities are saying'." |
| The convictions were, he went on, "a real vindication of a lot of effort by a lot of people - security services, police, and equally the Crown Prosecution Service for having the courage to go back when the juries who were hung last time and say 'Look, hold on, we think there is something here, we need to go further'." | The convictions were, he went on, "a real vindication of a lot of effort by a lot of people - security services, police, and equally the Crown Prosecution Service for having the courage to go back when the juries who were hung last time and say 'Look, hold on, we think there is something here, we need to go further'." |
| Four other men were found not guilty of involvement in the suicide bomb plot. | Four other men were found not guilty of involvement in the suicide bomb plot. |
Airline terror plot: The evidence | Airline terror plot: The evidence |
| All three were found guilty in an earlier trial of conspiracy to murder involving liquid bombs - but that jury could not decide whether their plans extended to detonating the devices on planes. | All three were found guilty in an earlier trial of conspiracy to murder involving liquid bombs - but that jury could not decide whether their plans extended to detonating the devices on planes. |
| Now a second jury has decided that such a terror plot did exist. | Now a second jury has decided that such a terror plot did exist. |
| Donald Stewart-Whyte (not shown) was cleared of all charges.--> BACK{current} of {total}NEXT | Donald Stewart-Whyte (not shown) was cleared of all charges.--> BACK{current} of {total}NEXT |