12 Charged in Airplane Terror Plot Posted: August 24, 2006

Twelve people accused of plotting to blow up as many as 10 airplanes flying from the United Kingdom to the United States face terror related charges in Britain.

Eleven suspects were charged on August 21, 2006, 11 days after police arrested 24 people in and around London for their alleged role in the plot. Another suspect was charged three days later. 

Eight of the 12 suspects are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and preparing acts of terrorism. Another suspect is charged with possession of articles that could be used to prepare a terrorist act and three others are charged with failing to disclose information that could help prevent a terrorist act.

The suspects, most of whom are British nationals of Pakistani decent between the ages of 17 to 35, reportedly planned to mix liquid and gel-like substances hidden in a sports drink to make explosive liquids that could be ignited by an MP3 player or cell phone.

Investigators, who conducted months of surveillance before arresting the suspects, have found bomb-making equipment, including hydrogen peroxide and electrical components, as well as at least two martyrdom videos, according to authorities.  The suspects were planning to stage a test run within a couple of days of their arrest, according to government officials.

Four suspects have been released and eight other suspects remain in custody and have not been charged.  They may be held for 28-days without conviction, under counterterrorism laws.   

Pakistani authorities have arrested as many as 17 others, including at least two British nationals, in connection with the plot.

One of the suspects arrested in Pakistan, Rashid Rauf, arrived to Pakistan in 2002 from Britain and stayed in Punjab province, according to Pakistani authorities.  Some reports indicate that Rauf, the plot’s suspected ringleader, met with an Al Qaeda operative in Pakistan.  Other reports suggest that he had been in contact with a high ranking Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan.

Rauf is a suspected member of Jaish-e Muhammed, a militant Islamist group based in Pakistan.  He reportedly admitted to investigators that he is connected by marriage to the group’s leader.  Rauf’s brother, Tayib, is one of the four people released by authorities after being arrested in Britain.

While it remains unclear if the foiled plot is linked to Al Qaeda, it resembles another Al Qaeda terrorist plot in 1995 called Operation Bojinka.  That plot included a series of attacks, including the bombings of 11 airplanes using liquid explosives.

British Home Secretary, John Reid, said that at least four major plots had been thwarted in Britain since the July 7, 2005, bombings in London last year in which 56 people died.  Reid also said that police in the U.K. were currently involved in over 20 terror investigations and that the Al Qaeda threat in Britain dates back to a foiled attack on Birmingham in 2000.