Chaos: UK Airports closed to incoming flights following foiled ‘terror plot’: MI5 Threat level upto “CRITICAL”
August 10, 2006 – 11:28 amBreaking News: “Plot to blow up planes disrupted”
well good job the ‘plot’ was disrupted. Doesn’t seem to be clear what the hell is going on - but Heathrow’s closed to all ‘incoming flights’ - goodness! that sounds like it will cause mass chaos - and ‘all flights have been cancelled to Europe”. Right bang in the middle of holiday season so it must be pretty damn chaotic right now.
Additionally Lufthansa and Iberia have also cancelled flights to the UK.
MI5’s current threat level has been raised from SEVERE to CRITICAL - i daresay this is the highest it can get.
So what’s going on? - Scotland Yard says “A plot to blow up planes from the UK mid-flight and cause ‘mass murder on an unimaginable scale’ has been disrupted”. Oh dear! No details yet but mentions of upto 10 flights involved - and recent BBC headlines point to upto 21 arrests being made in London and West Midlands.
The Met says:
We believe that the terrorists’ aim was to smuggle explosives on to aeroplanes in hand luggage and to detonate these in flight. We also believe that the intended targets were flights from the United Kingdom to the United States of America.
and BA says:
It was too early to estimate the cost of the disruption, adding that it had temporarily halted all short-haul flights to and from Heathrow.
Airport operator BAA said that Heathrow had been closed to all incoming flights not already in the air and warned passengers to stay away.
and what’s been happening in the US:
The US Department of Homeland Security increased the threat level applied to US-bound commercial flights originating in the UK to “red” - the first time it has done this for flights coming in from another country
Hopefully as the day progresses, we’ll have more news and detail - though realistically this will all be clouded in confusion and no one will know what’s been going on, how the bomb plot was averted, who’s been arrested, etc. etc. Naturally, for selfish reasons - given it’s prime holiday season - people will need to have information - especially if they have flights to catch etc. and need to make other arrangements. Tony’s on holiday and Ministers are in ‘Emergency Meetings’. A BBC Security Correspondent has said that the
plot had an “international dimension” and the investigation had involved the CIA.
10 Responses to “Chaos: UK Airports closed to incoming flights following foiled ‘terror plot’: MI5 Threat level upto “CRITICAL””
The coach to Amsterdam should be pretty full then!
By Leighton Cooke on Aug 10, 2006
Looks like it..!
By sonia on Aug 10, 2006
How about swimming the channel? But please remember to be alert. Your country needs lerts!
By Leighton Cooke on Aug 10, 2006
Came on leightons recomendation good blog will read you again
By neil on Aug 10, 2006
Hi Neil - thanks for dropping by -thanks Leighton and Ceri for the trackbacks and L for the recommendation!
Cheers
sonia
yes let’s all be ALERT everyone..
By sonia on Aug 11, 2006
Years ago I decided that every thing They said was a Lie. And even if it wasn’t I’d go on thinking it was — mostly for something to do.
I’ve a quite potent sense of make-believe.
So why would they purport to ‘foil’ an attack that was never underway? That’s what I figure. I mean — this you’d know better then I — are the bobbies (that’s what you call cops, right? Foriegeners are weird…), I mean are British cops so smart ? That they can act on a tip from a half-world away. Trace it back to a neighborhood near Heathrow. Foil the plot and save the world — HOORAY!!
I dunno. American cops are dumber than an empty bag o weed. They’d never figure it out.
Right. So as to Why fake a foiled attack? Current Theory: we’ll never know.
addendum: we likely very much don’t want to!
Righto,
By Mike E on Aug 12, 2006
We were driving into the US that day were pretty worried about whether we’d get through or not! I mean it was a 10 hour drive so it would’ve really sucked if they actually didn’t let us in! Anywho, it wasn’t bad at all at the border that day. The guy took only 20 seconds to check our citizenship and then gave us a smile and a thumbs up. Red alert not that bad for families I guess.
By Bengali Fob on Aug 18, 2006
That’s good to hear FOB.
By sonia on Aug 18, 2006