Breaking 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.
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