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Trail of Terror: U.K. Terror Plot Unravels
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ShareAugust 11, 2006 6:18 PM
U.S. authorities say the British ringleader of the plot has been identified and is in custody in Pakistan along with two of his co-conspirators.
Authorities say Rashid Rauf was essentially running the plot by remote control from Pakistan. Authorities have been able to track his phone calls back to London and wire transfers of money intended to pay for the suicide bombers' plane tickets.
The suspected terrorists had planned to be on flights out of London today and tomorrow for a dry run of their plot had the plot not been disrupted.
U.S. authorities said today they're keeping their guard up in case of follow-on or copycat terrorists.
"There are other people out there who are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers, so I'm not prepared to let my guard down," said Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News more than 200 FBI agents have been searching for people connected to the plot here in the U.S.
With nothing found, so far at least, according to White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend on Good Morning America this morning.
"There is no indication of plotting, but of course we would be remiss if we weren't looking for connections between individuals here in the U.S. and the plotters in the U.K.," Townsend said. "There are leads that the FBI is running."
In Pakistan today, officials took credit for breaking the case through the surveillance of the one of the suspected plotters who reportedly met with a radical cleric.
Pakistani authorities said they had arrested the suspect, Rashid Rauf, on Wednesday in cooperation with British authorities. They said he was found near the border with Afghanistan and had direct ties to al Qaeda.
"They are saying that the cell that they dismantled here was very close to al Qaeda, was linked to al Qaeda," Alexis Debate, Senior Fellow at the Nixon Center in Washington, D.C. and ABC News consultant, said.
Despite a whirlwind of raids and arrests, the five missing suspects in London remain at large.
And U.S. officials confirm that one of the suspects was a Heathrow airport employee with an access pass that gives him the run of the airport.
August 11, 2006 in U.K. Airline Terror Plot | Permalink | User Comments (14)
Seems like the British have found a lot of terrorists in their midst. I wonder if they are going to have discussions about immigration.
Posted by: Joe | Aug 11, 2006 10:39:35 PM
The problem is Pakistan has always been a nation with growing Islamic radicalism, and a training ground for flourishing terrorist groups. It has never been a problem for the West, because the worst that came out of it has been the savage bombings in India. This indifference to terrorism has now become a problem, the West has to deal with.
Posted by: Ronnie | Aug 12, 2006 12:07:48 AM
Five terrorists still at large!!???
Posted by: Jack | Aug 12, 2006 1:51:12 AM
They were British Born. They were not immigrants. Which is a much bigger problem. Their parents may well have been immigrants but they were not. Like many other British subjects, I am proud of our multi-cultural society. Being British is not necessarily about being Anglo-Saxon. We would have far fewer of these home grown terrorists if our Prime Minister stopped following George Bush into oil related wars. Never mind immigration.
Posted by: lily | Aug 12, 2006 7:17:23 AM
This just goes to show that the entire Middle East is run rampant with extremists. It is inconcievable when people blame Westerners or our way of life for their actions. The guy that blames Tony Blair for joining Bush in this fight is living in a dream world. Get real guy. What will it take? A million lives?
Posted by: john | Aug 12, 2006 9:31:20 AM
Oil related wars....like Afghanistan?
Posted by: Mark | Aug 12, 2006 10:23:37 AM
pray for the peacemaker
Posted by: jas | Aug 12, 2006 11:00:46 AM
pray for the peacemaker
Posted by: jas | Aug 12, 2006 11:03:20 AM
Why does ABC persist on reporting every single unconfirmed utterance from US authorities when the British are not at all saying the same thing? Why is it that this story is not "British Authorities say" ? Why is it that all of the stories on this plot are based on information from people here not involved in the actual arrests or investigation of the plot?
Our law enforcement and intelligence people had nothing to do with any of this--why are you faithfully passing along everything they say without confirming it?
Try doing your jobs please.
Posted by: amberglow | Aug 12, 2006 1:46:06 PM
How is Pakistan the problem here? These people were born, brought up and educated in Britain. Or are you racist enough to believe that terrorism is a genetic trait? If, for the sake of argument, Pakistan has a growing Islamic radicalism, then don't forget it was us who planted the seeds so they would fight the Soviet Union. Thousands more Pakistanis have died than Americans or Brits, because we used their country to achieve our global supremacy.
Posted by: Candid | Aug 12, 2006 5:25:18 PM
While there is no question US support for Israel and autocratic regimes in the ME fuels these extremists, the notion that the US and UK brought this on themselves with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is misplaced.AQ attacked the US long before these wars were ever even conceived (including 9/11).
Posted by: j house | Aug 13, 2006 3:16:27 AM
Amberglow?
Why are you so worried about admitting that the authorities and legal monitoring services thwarted this attack?
Putting partisanship over country again?
Posted by: Rick | Aug 13, 2006 8:53:32 AM
"Why does ABC persist on reporting every single unconfirmed utterance from US authorities when the British are not at all saying the same thing?...Why is it that all of the stories on this plot are based on information from people here not involved in the actual arrests or investigation of the plot?"
And what's more all this US reporting is potentially damaging to any case the British Prosecution make against the accused. They may face various pieces of evidence being deemed inadmissable in court due to things being reported in the USA press which have not been confirmed in the British press probably intentionally.
Posted by: lily | Aug 13, 2006 9:02:50 AM
Let see, the american people want to fight against terrorism? Let us stop purchasing gasoline all together on one certain date, and see if the big oil companies want to agree with fighting terrorism and give us a break! It seems to me that the terrorists are winning. We are afraid to travel and we pay OUTRAGEOUSLY for gasoline ! Come on !
Posted by: tobie | Aug 14, 2006 3:41:44 PM
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