Terrorists Smuggle Fatwas Out of Secure Prisons – UK

According to the Times UK, some of Britain’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders are promoting jihad from inside high-security prisons by smuggling out propaganda for the internet and finding recruits. In an authoritative report, Quilliam, a think tank funded by the Home Office, claims “mismanagement” by the Prison Service is helping Al Qaeda gain recruits and risks “strengthening jihadist movements”.

Abu Qatada, described by MI5 as “Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, has published fatwas, religious rulings, on the internet from Long Lartin prison, in Worcestershire, calling for holy war and the murder of moderate Muslims, it reveals. Abu Doha, said to be Al-Qaeda’s main recruiter in Europe, has taken courses in Belmarsh prison, south London, enabling him to mentor other inmates.

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Taxi Driver Ordered To Drive Bomb To Courthouse – UK

The device turned out to be a hoax in a bizarre story out of the UK. Armed, masked men in Strabane told a taxi driver they had put a bomb in his car and ordered him to bring it to the town’s courthouse.

More from BBC News

Bomb experts who examined the vehicle overnight said the device was a hoax.

Residents living nearby spent the night out of their homes as the area was cordoned off.

Four men, two believed to be carrying handguns, approached the taxi driver at about 2300 BST on Friday as he arrived for a job at Townsend Street.

Sinn Fein councillor Danny Breslin said: “It’s horrific to think about it – I’m sure he’ll be traumatised for a long time.

“We don’t want these random bomb scares, disrupting traffic and stopping people from going about their business.”

via BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Taxi driver told to bring ‘bomb’.

British Court Convicts Three in Plot to Blow Up Airliners

After two trials and the largest counterterrorism investigation in Britain’s history, three men were found guilty on Monday of plotting to bomb at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners on a single day with liquid explosives smuggled aboard in soft-drink bottles and detonated by devices powered with AA batteries.

The convictions came three years after the global airline industry was thrown into chaos by the plot. The bombers’ plan to drain plastic soft-drink bottles with syringes and refill them with concentrated hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent also used as a propellant for rockets, led to new measures prohibiting passengers from carrying all but small quantities of liquids and creams onto flights.

With those measures still in force and causing backups at airport security checkpoints around the world, the police and intelligence agencies in Britain and the United States had waited anxiously for verdicts in the six-month trial at Woolwich Crown Court in London, where eight men were accused of conspiracy to stage the airliner bombings.

Prosecutors said the plot could have killed at least 1,500 people aboard the targeted planes, which by that measure would have made it second only to the Sept. 11 attacks as the most serious terrorist plot in modern history.

“Apart from massive loss of life, these attacks would have had enormous worldwide economic and political significance,” John McDowall, Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism chief, said after the verdicts.

In Washington, the Obama administration praised the verdict on Monday.

Source

Top Terror Suspect Freed Over Secrets Fear – UK

The Home Secretary has released a man regarded as one of Britain’s most dangerous terror suspects from virtual house arrest to avoid disclosing secret evidence against him, The Times has learned. The man, known only as AF, has been subject to a controversial “control order” since 2006 because of his alleged links with Islamic terrorists. He has never been charged, however, and the evidence for the allegations has never been heard in a public court.

The control order was revoked last week and the suspect’s electronic tag removed, setting him free in spite of the Government’s claim that he remains a threat.

Lord Pannick, QC, who led the legal team acting for the man in the House of Lords, said: “The Home Secretary has some explaining to do. Does he now accept that there was no need for the control order which imposed severe restrictions on AF . . . or does he still think there is a need for controls but is unwilling to provide details of the allegations against AF? If the latter, does he accept that the control order regime is defective and should be scrapped?”

AF, who has dual Libyan and British nationality, was one of three terror suspects who won a landmark ruling from nine law lords in July that their detention under the control order regime was illegal. The law lords ruled that the suspects had been denied a fair hearing prior to detention because they had not been told sufficient details of the case against them.

The ruling paved the way for up to 20 men held under the regime to challenge their detention and to seek to know the basis of the case against them.

via Top terror suspect is freed over secrets fear – Times Online.

Al-Qaeda Threatens Spectacular Attacks On UK

In an astounding revelation, Al-Qaeda extremists have claimed that home-grown terrorists are plotting to attack targets in Britain. According to reports, in an internet magazine read by thousands of Islamic extremists Al-Qaeda has labeled Britain and Europe as a bigger enemy than the United States.

It further says that the strikes are being planned by terrorists living in Britain and others overseas, and warns of “spectacular attacks”, ‘The Sun’ reports.

The site is promoted by supporters of deported hate preacher Abdullah al-Faisal who was booted out of Britain after serving a jail sentence for being found guilty of three charges of soliciting the murder of Jews, Americans, and Hindus, and two charges of using threatening words to stir up racial hatred.

Source

Rusty has more over at Jawa.

Al-Qaeda Planning Cyber Terror War Against Britain

Al-Qaeda is intent on using the internet to launch a cyber-warfare campaign against Britain, Lord West, the Security Minister, has warned.

Terrorist groups, which already use the internet for recruitment, propaganda and communication purposes, want to turn it into a dangerous weapon, he said.

Lord West issued the warning as he published the Government’s new Cyber Security Strategy aimed at heading off online threats.

As well as potential cyber-attacks from terrorists, Britain faces a real and growing threat from foreign governments such as China and Russia, and from organised criminal gangs, he said.

Targets include key businesses, the national power grid, financial markets and Whitehall departments.

As part of attempts to beef up defences, a new Office for Cyber Security will be set up to co-ordinate Government policy.

Another new development will see the creation of a “cyber-forensics” team based at GCHQ, the Government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The Cyber Security Operations Centre will constantly monitor, analyse and counter cyber attacks as they happen.

Source

Pair Questioned Over Ricin Find – UK

A father and son are being questioned by anti-terrorism officers following the discovery of the poison ricin at a house in County Durham.

The find is connected to a police inquiry into alleged extreme right-wing activity.

Ian Davison, 41, and his son, Nicky, 18, were arrested on Tuesday in raids at their homes in County Durham.

The ricin, said to be 6,000 times more toxic than cyanide, will be analysed at the Porton Down government laboratory.

Police have halted their search of Mr Davison’s home in Myrtle Grove, Burnopfield, until tests on the substance, found in a sealed jam jar, have been completed.

We do not believe that there is any risk to public health

Asst Ch Con Michael Barton

The former pub DJ’s son was detained at his home in Annfield Plain on suspicion of inciting racial hatred but is now also being held under the Terrorism Act.

It is understood his father is being questioned by Durham officers and the North East Counter Terrorism Unit at a police station in West Yorkshire.

Source

Kidnap Victim Left In Car With Bomb Belt – UK

Police are hunting a kidnap gang who tied up and apparently tortured an Asian man before dumping him in a car in a busy city centre, surrounded by a belt of canisters which they claimed were a bomb.

A huge alert in Birmingham disrupted one of the country’s busiest railway stations and led to the evacuation of factories and workshops while army explosives experts checked out the scene.

A police helicopter hovered overhead as officers sealed off the area, closing an adventure park and offering 15 residents and workers temporary refuge in a council leisure centre.

The restrictions were eased after the man, who had been reported to be foaming at the mouth by a witness before the 500-metre cordon was imposed, was taken to hospital with a broken leg and shock.

Speaking at the scene in Saltley, the head of the inquiry, Chief Superintendent Tom Coughlan, said the victim had told officers that he was forced into the car before being told about the bomb. He said: “This incident has now become a criminal investigation. We are seeking to establish the actual nature of the device that was placed in the car.”

The canisters, the size of beer cans, were designed to hold camping gas. They have been taken for examination by the army team. Coughlan said they would be examined for any trace of explosives, but the soldiers had not had to carry out any defusing or controlled explosions.

Source

UK Crew Member In Hospital After Mexico Flight

A British Airways cabin crew member was taken to a London hospital as a precaution after developing flu-like symptoms on a flight from Mexico City, the airline said Saturday.

It was the first such reported precautionary measure in Britain since the emergence of a new flu strain that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico. It has also infected at least 11 people in the United States. The man has undergone tests, but the results are not expected back until Sunday. No other crew members or passengers on the BA242 flight into Heathrow airport were detained.

“He has flu-like symptoms and is responding well to treatment,” a hospital spokesman said in a statement.

“The patient was admitted directly to a side room and the hospital is scrupulously following infection control procedures to ensure there is no risk to any other individual in the hospital.”

Source

Britain Prepares To Deport 9 Terrorism Suspects to Pakistan

Two weeks after hundreds of police officers staged raids in northern England and arrested 12 men in what Prime Minister Gordon Brown described as “a very big terrorist plot,” the police released nine of them on Tuesday and handed them over to Britain’s border control agency for deportation to Pakistan.

Two other men remained in police custody for further questioning under Britain’s Terrorism Act. Another man had been handed over previously to the border agency for deportation.

A Home Office spokesman, referring to the transfer of the nine suspects to the border agency, said the government was “seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security,” suggesting that some kind of plot was still under investigation. A police spokeswoman in the northern city of Manchester, which the British news media had portrayed as the focal point of the plot described by Mr. Brown, said the investigations were continuing.

But Britain’s security agencies appeared to have pulled back from earlier suggestions that they had foiled a major imminent attack involving infiltrators with Al Qaeda sent to Britain from Pakistan on student visas. After the arrests on April 8, senior officials were quoted in British newspapers as saying they had moved against the 12 men after deciding that a bombing attack involving mass casualties was only days from being carried out, probably against a target in Manchester, possibly a crowded shopping center over the Easter weekend.

via Britain Prepares to Deport 9 Terrorism Suspects to Pakistan – NYTimes.com.

Police Search For 2nd Terror Cell In UK

A second al-Qaeda terror cell is believed to be planning carnage in the UK.

Senior security sources last night revealed they are hunting extremists aiming to bomb a location such as a nightclub or shopping centre.

They believe the cell will target London rather than the North- West, where 11 men were arrested on Wednesday, as the capital holds more “international significance”.

Evidence gleaned from the arrests was revealed to Cobra, Whitehall’s emergency committee of intelligence chiefs and ministers.

One source said: “We are investigating whether the men were being used to set up attacks while the second group would carry them out. We expect more arrests.”

Despite security services’ claims about imminent attacks no weapons, explosives or bomb factory have been uncovered.

An 18-year-old was freed into the custody of Border authorities for deportation. Those still in custody refuse to talk. “They are more or less mute,” said the source.

Source

Terrorists Targeted England Hot Spots

With terror attacks planned for as early as this symbolic four-day Easter holiday weekend in England, Muslim terrorists who used student visas to enter the country had identified crowded shopping malls and nightclubs as likely targets as they sought to maximize casualties, according to counter-terrorism sources.

Police are continuing to search 10 properties across the north-west of England in connection with an alleged planned terror bomb attack.

They have found pictures of popular Manchester shopping centres and a nightclub, the BBC has learned.

Twelve men – 11 of them Pakistani, and most of them students – are still being questioned over the alleged plot.

Gordon Brown and Pakistan’s president are “committed to working together” to combat terror, says Downing Street.

Although the police previously insisted there was no intelligence pointing to any specific targets, sources have told the BBC photographs of four popular Manchester locations were recovered during searches.

These were the Arndale and Trafford Centre shopping complexes, Birdcage nightclub and St Ann’s Square.

On Thursday, security staff at the Trafford Centre and officials at Manchester Arndale said they had not been informed of any threat.

An Arndale spokesman said: “Both Manchester Arndale and the The Birdcage will be operating as normal over the Easter weekend.”

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Al-Qaeda Terror Plot To Bomb Easter Shoppers Broken Up – UK

An al-Qaeda cell was days away from carrying out an “Easter spectacular” of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on shopping centres in Manchester, police believe.

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.

Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann’s Square.

Police were forced to round up the alleged plotters after they were overheard discussing dates, understood to include the Easter bank holiday, one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

“It could have been the next few days and they were talking about 10 days at the outside,” one source said. “We had to act.” Police are now engaged in a search for an alleged bomb factory, where explosives might have been assembled.

If such a plot was carried out, it would almost certainly have been Britain’s worst terrorist attack, with the potential to cause more deaths than the suicide attacks of July 7, 2005, when 52 people were murdered.

A plan to arrest the suspects in a series of co-ordinated raids yesterday morning had to be hastily brought forward to Wednesday afternoon after the country’s most senior anti-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, of the Metropolitan Police, was photographed going into Downing Street carrying a briefing paper with top secret details of Operation Pathway in full view.

Yesterday morning, Mr Quick resigned after he was told by the Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, that he had lost her confidence and that of MI5.

As a result of his blunder, hundreds of police officers had to be scrambled to arrest the suspects, who were being monitored round the clock.

Former police chiefs pointed out that rounding up suspected suicide bombers in public places in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancs, had put other people at risk and could also have compromised the operation.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, described the alleged plot as “very big” and said investigators were looking at links with Pakistan.

Mr Brown said: “We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan. That is an important issue for us to follow through and that’s why I will be talking to President Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help us in the future.”

All but one of the men arrested were Pakistani nationals who came to Britain on student visas. This suggested a possible new tactic by al-Qaeda, which had previously used British-based extremists who travelled to Pakistan for training.

The issue of student visas represents a potential security nightmare for the police and MI5. There are 330,000 foreign students in Britain and around 10,000 such visas are issued every year to Pakistanis alone.

Source – Read Full Article

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• U.S. al Qaeda effort lacking, official warns (cnn.com)

12 Arrested In Very Serious Terror Plot In UK

British police Wednesday arrested 12 people in a counterterrorism operation, and locations were being searched, authorities said.
A Scotland Yard official’s papers show details of the raid, which have been obscured in this photo.

Arrests were carried out in a series of raids in northwest England, police said. Participating agencies included Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and the Lancashire Constabulary, according to a statement from Greater Manchester Police.

The men arrested were involved in a “very serious” plot closely associated with al Qaeda and escaped al Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf, whom British intelligence have linked to the 2006 plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners, according to a security source with knowledge of the investigation.

The new plot was not believed to be targeting national infrastructure, such as rail lines, airports or utilities, nor was it clear if the plot was to involved bombs or an assault involving gunmen, the source said.

Details, the source said, were speculative at this point in the investigation.

The source also said authorities don’t believe the targets would have been in the north of England, where the arrests took place, and that at least some of those arrested were Pakistanis in the United Kingdom on student visas.

Several hundred officers were involved in the raids, according to a later Greater Manchester Police statement. The men arrested range in age from a youth in his mid- to late teens to a 41-year-old, the statement said. No further information was available, police said.

“Today’s action is part of an ongoing investigation and we have acted on intelligence received,” said Steve Ashley, chief superintendent of Merseyside police.

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