Karl Weiss – „Terroranschläge von der Größenordnung des 11. September vereitelt “„Einen Massenmord unvorstellbaren Aussmaßes hat die britische Polizei mit den Festnahmen verhindert.“ „Die Täter haben zwanzig Flugzeuge gleichzeitig zum Absturz bringen wollen. Bis zu 2000 Menschen wären ums Leben gekommen.“

„Zwar seien sie noch nicht in den Flugzeugen gesessen, aber dem Abflug sehr nahe gekommen“. Niemand darf mehr mit Flüssigkeiten im Handgepäck ins Flugzeug. Getränke, Kosmetikartikel, Shampoos, Zahnpasta müssen weggeworfen werden, bevor man ins Flugzeug darf. Grund: Man kann angeblich einen Sprengstoff mit einfachen flüssigen Rohstoffen herstellen, die, wie es hieß, „in jeder Apotheke” zu kaufen sind. Das ist frech gelogen.

Wenn man Chemiker ist wie der Berichterstatter, fühlt man sich herausgefordert, wenn plötzlich ein so einfach herzustellender Sprengstoff in allen Schlagzeilen auftaucht. In einigen der Meldungen ist auch der Name genannt: Acetonperoxid. Wenn man das googelt, kommen dann auch schon Ergebnisse, die auch ein Laie versteht:

„Obwohl Acetonperoxid leicht herzustellen ist und auch einen recht kräftigen Sprengstoff darstellt, hat es doch auch einige gravierende Nachteile.. Der schlimmste ist seine hohe Empfindlichkeit insbesondere gegenüber Funken und Flammen. Wird Acetonperoxid offen liegend (und nur dann!!!) entzündet, reagiert es mit heftiger Verpuffung sobald die Flamme auch nur in die Nähe der Substanz gekommen ist. Dieses Bild ändert sich schlagartig wenn Acetonperoxid auch nur der geringsten Verdämmung unterliegt, ein dünner Wickel aus Alufolie oder Papier genügt und die Substanz geht sofort in Detonation über. Auch die Schlag und Reibempfindlichkeit sind sehr groß, Acetonperoxid ist ähnlich schlagempfindlich wie Nitroglyzerin!”

Man kann dann auch noch nachlesen, was man zur Herstellung braucht: Aceton, 30%iges Wasserstoffperoxid und eine konzentrierte Säure, wie konzentrierte Salzsäure oder konzentrierte Schwefelsäure.

Genau gesagt, handelt es sich um ein dimeres Acetonperoxid oder ein trimeres Acetonperoxid. Beide sublimieren, d.h. sie gehen aus dem festen direkt in den gasförmigen Zustand über.

Zusammengefaßt: Acetonperoxid läßt sich als Sprengstoff nicht handhaben. Es ist viel zu gefährlich, noch weit gefährlicher als Nitroglyzerin. Es gibt auch keine einfache Methode, es zu phlegmatisieren, also handhabbar zu machen. Man kann es z.B. nicht in Kieselgur aufnehmen und es würde ungefährlich, wie das bei Nitroglyzerin der Fall ist (Dynamit).Es explodiert zwar unter Wasser nicht mehr leicht, aber das ist erneut ein Problem der Handhabbarkeit. Wie soll man es nun explodieren, ohne langes Versuchen und ohne daß man eine Zündexplosion auslöst mit einem Explosivstoff, den man wiederum nicht ins Flugzeug schmuggeln kann?

Gehen wir, bevor wir weiter ins Detail gehen, auf die Frage der Verfügbarkeit in jeder Apotheke ein.

Fangen wir an mit Aceton. Entgegen den allgemeinen Angaben in verschiedenen Quellen ist Aceton in allen Industrieländern und auch vielen weniger entwickelten Ländern nicht mehr frei erhältlich, schon gar nicht in Mengen, wie sie für größere Explosionen gebraucht werden. Die meisten der Referenzen geben noch an, daß Aceton als Nagellackentferner gebraucht und frei verfügbar sei. Das ist nicht mehr der Fall. Als Nagellackentferner wurde Aceton schon seit einiger Zeit ersetzt, einfach weil es extrem aggressiv für die Haut ist, weil es völlig entfettet. Heute verwendet man typischerweise Essigsäure-ethyl-ester oder andere Lösemittel als Nagellackentferner.

Aceton für Koks und Heroin
Der Hauptgrund, warum Aceton keineswegs mehr überall frei erhältlich ist, ist seine Bedeutung bei der Herstellung von Drogen. Sowohl für die Herstellung von Kokain als auch von Heroin in konsumierbarer Form braucht man Aceton. Aus diesem Grunde ist Aceton eine kontrollierte Substanz, die auch für chemische Fabriken nur noch zur Verfügung gestellt wird, wenn die Nicht-Ersetzbarkeit erwiesen ist und auch dann werden die konsumierten Mengen überwacht.

Machen Sie einen einfachen Test: Gehen Sie in eine Drogerie oder Apotheke und verlangen sie einen halben Liter Aceton oder einen Nagellackentferner, der noch aus Aceton besteht. Sie werden beides nicht finden.

Allerdings gibt es noch Länder, wo man Aceton bekommen kann. Eventuelle Terroristen könnten sich also in solchen Ländern versorgen, wenn sie ein hohes Maß an krimineller Energie aufbringen.

Zweiter Inhaltsstoff: 30%ige H2O2-Lösung (Wasserstoffperoxidlösung in Wasser), früher Wasserstoffhyperoxid genannt. Die Reaktion funktioniert keineswegs mit 10%iger oder 3%iger. Auch hier: Völlige Fehlanzeige. Zwar wird 3%ige Lösung frei verkauft und auf Rezept bekommt man auch die 10%ige (in Brasilien bekommt man auch die zehnprozentige in Drogerien im freien Verkauf), aber die benötigte 30%ige gibt es nirgends in Apotheken oder Drogerien. Man könnte sie sich eventuell in Chemikalienvertriebsfirmen bekommen, aber dann wäre man leicht zurückzuverfolgen, denn dort kann man nicht einfach anonym hingehen und etwas kaufen.

Kriminelle Energie
Es gibt allerdings zum Beispiel die Möglichkeit, einen Auftrag für eine geeignete Menge Wasserstoffperoxidlösung zwischen andere Aufträge z.b. einer Chemie-Firma zu platzieren. Ein Chemiker dort, eventuell auch ein anderer Angestellter, könnte so eine solche Lösung besorgen – wäre aber auch von Entdeckung bedroht. Wiederum braucht man entsprechende Verbindungen und ein hohes Maß an krimineller Energie.

Dritte Substanz: Konzentrierte Salzsäure oder Schwefelsäure. In etwa gleiche Bedingungen. Jemand in einer Chemie-Firma könnte so etwas eventuell besorgen. Frei verkäuflich in Apotheken/Drogerien? Fehlanzeige! Wiederum: Hohe kriminelle Energie benötigt.

Mischt man nun die drei Ingredienzien in einem Verhältnis, das hier nicht aufgedeckt werden soll, erhält man nach einiger Zeit eine weiße Masse, die bei technischen Ausgangsprodukten auch gelb oder bräunlich sein kann. Das ist eine Mischung des Dimers und des Trimers von Acetonperoxid. Da gibt es nur ein ganz großes Problem: Diese Masse explodiert oder entzündet sich schon im Sonnenlicht oder UV-Licht bei Raumtemperatur, sobald sie trocken wird.

Unter Wasser schwerlich BUMM
Das Ganze fällt ja in Wasser an, ist aber wasserunlöslich, fällt also aus. Solange es unter Wasser ist, wird es nur schwerlich explodieren. Man müßte eine andere Explosion benutzen, um es zur Explosion zu bringen. Damit muß man aber einen Explosionsstoff ins Flugzeug bringen – und das sollte ja gerade vermieden bzw. ersetzt werden.

Um überhaupt eine nicht mehr unter Wasser befindliche Substanz zu erhalten, muß man auch eine Filtereinrichtung haben. Auch das wäre leicht aus dem Handgepäck zu verbannen.

In dem Moment aber, in dem man das Ganze nicht kühlen kann, zB. mit Trockeneis, das man ja nicht ins Flugzeug bringen kann, ohne aufzufallen, wird man beim Trocknen der Substanz, mit welcher Methode auch immer, die Zündung auslösen.

Aber, wie wir oben schon erfahren haben, das gibt keine Explosion, sondern die Substanz verbrennt in einer Stichflamme. Keine Druckwelle, kein Flugzeugabsturz.

Außerdem ist das Ganze eine Reaktion, die Zeit braucht. Zusammen mit Filtrierung und Trockung läßt sich das keineswegs unter einer Stunde durchführen – bei Mengen, die auf jeden Fall ausreichen würden, um ein Flugzeug abstürzen zu lassen, länger.

Bleibt noch das Problem der Trocknung. In einer Flugzeugtoilette kann man nicht einfach einen Haartrockner in eine Steckdose stecken. Gibt es batteriebetriebene Haartrockner? Nun, die könnte man aus dem Handgepäck verbannen. In Wirklichkeit ist dies aber gar nicht nötig, denn man kann dies Alles bereits in einigen einfachen Sätzen zusammenfassen:

1. Die Ingredientien für diesen Sprengstoff sind keineswegs einfach erhältlich, schon gar nicht in jeder Apotheke/Drogerie.

2. Man kann diesen Sprengstoff keineswegs in einem Flugzeugsitz oder auf einer Flugzeugtoilette herstellen und zu einem Zeitpunkt, den man selbst bestimmen will, zur Explosion bringen.

3. Der Zeitaufwand für eine solche Herstellung auf einer Flugzeugtoilette ist erheblich. Solange kann man in keiner Flugzeugtoilette zubringen, ohne aufzufallen.

4. Es ist fast undenkbar, daß dieser Versuch der Herstellung auf einer Flugzeugtoilette unentdeckt bleibt. Nicht nur wegen der langen Zeit, die sich dort jemand einsperren müßte, sondern auch wegen des intensiven Geruchs nach Aceton, der sich von dort aus verbreiten würde und nach einer Stunde bereits das ganze Flugzeug eingenebelt hätte.

Haarsträubende Thesen
Alle noch so haarsträubenden Thesen, wie ein solcher Terroranschlag mit den Ausgangsstoffen von Acetonperoxid, die in Getränke- oder Kosmetikbehältern ins Flugzeug geschmuggelt worden wären, geplant und durchgeführt werden könnten, sind an mindestens einer Stelle undurchführbar oder jedenfalls so unwahrscheinlich, daß sie nicht ernsthaft weiterverfolgt werden brauchen. Vor allem würden alle solche Theorien ein ungemein gut vorbereitetes großes Team von Experten umfassen, die eine außergewöhnliche kriminelle Energie an den Tag legten – doch dieses würde ganz andere Methoden bevorzugen.

Genau das ist aber eben nicht das Profil der Terroristen, die nach dem 11. September aufgetreten sind – immer gemäß den offiziellen Verschwörungstheorien – z.B. im Fall des Madrider Anschlags vom 11. März 2004, des Londoner Anschlags vom 7. Juli 2005 und der jetzt festgenommenen Muslims in England. Das waren in allen Fällen unabhängige, kleine Gruppen von (meist jungen) Leuten, die eher amateurhaft ihre unbändige Wut auf „den Westen“ zum Ausdruck bringen wollten und keinerlei weitreichende Verbindungen hatten, mit denen sie extrem ausgeklügelte Anschlagformen hätten durchführen können.

Wo sind die Profianschläge?
Die wirklich profimäßig ausgeführten Anschläge dagegen, wie jene in den Hotels in Amman in Jordanien, jener gegen Hariri im Libanon und jene in verschiedenen ägyptischen Ferienorten haben eindeutig die Handschrift westlicher Geheimdienste. Um sie zu stoppen, müßte man nur den eigenen Geheimdiensten den Befehl geben, mit ihren Anschlägen aufzuhören.

Auch der britische Sprengstoff-Experte Nigel Wylde hat nach einer Meldung des ‚Stern’ bezweifelt, daß es eine Möglichkeit gäbe, diesen Sprengstoff an Bord eines Flugzeugs aus seinen Komponenten herzustellen. Wylde ist früher Sprengstoff-Fachmann der britischen Armee gewesen und heute Sprengstoff-Sachverständiger bei Gericht.

Damit steht fest, was auch immer die Absichten der festgenommenen Muslims gewesen sein mochten, sie konnten so keine Flugzeuge zum Absturz bringen. Insofern wurde die Öffentlichkeit belogen.

Auch die Maßnahmen, die man daraufhin beschloß bezüglich der Verbote des Handgepäcks waren mit keiner einzigen halbwegs sachlichen Begründung zu rechtfertigen. Es handelte sich um eine unsinnige Panikmache. Man wollte Hysterie erzeugen und hat das auch teilweise geschafft, wenn man in so einigen Foren nachliest. Vielleicht war die Panikmache auch gar nicht so unsinnig, sondern hatte den klaren Sinn, von den Taten der israelischen Soldateska abzulenken, die zur gleichen Zeit einen WIRKLICHEN Massenmord im Libanon veranstalteten und diese Schlächtereien an Arabern irgendwie weniger verdammenswert erscheinen lassen.

Doch die Öffentlichkeit wurde im Zusammenhang mit den geplanten massenmörderischen Flugzeugattentaten nicht nur bezüglich der Sprengstoffe in die Irre geführt. Der ganze Plot kam offenbar nicht so gewesen sein, wie die englische Polizei behauptet. Man hat 21 (nach anderen Berichten 24) Personen festgenommen. Doch nur 11 waren 48 Stunden später noch in Gewahrsam. Wie kann man 20 Flugzeuge mit 11 Personen durch Selbstmordattentate abstürzen lassen? Wie kann eine Liste von 19 Verdächtigen veröffentlicht werden, deren Konten gesperrt wurden, wenn nur 11 noch verdächtig sind? Angeblich seinen 5 der möglichen Täter untergetaucht. Macht 16.

Bis heute ist gegen keinen der angeblich hochgefährlichen Täter auch nur eine Anklage erhoben worden. Daß noch nicht weitere entlassen werden mußten, liegt nur daran, daß in Großbritannien mit der neuen Antiterrorgesetzgebung jeder 28 Tage in Gewahrsam genommen werden kann, ohne daß irgendetwas gegen ihn vorliegen muß, wenn man ihn nur als Terrorverdächtigen bezeichnet. In den darauf folgenden Tagen wurden bereits weitere Personen festgenommen, die jedoch alle bereits wieder auf freiem Fuß gesetzt werden mußten.

Trophäen
Wie viele am Ende wirklich angeklagt werden und mit welchen Anklagen, ist abzuwarten. Die drei Komponenten für die Bombenherstellung wurden offenbar nirgends gefunden bei den Hausdurchsuchungen, sonst hatte man diese „Trophäen“ bestimmt schon vorgezeigt. Die letzte Information ist, daß keiner der Verdächtigen auch nur ein Flugzeugticket hatte. Die Anschläge können also nicht unmittelbar bevorgestanden haben. Eine weitere Lüge.

Anscheinend haben die Pläne für Anschläge bestenfalls in den Köpfen, Gesprächen und E-mails gestanden. Ob die dafür verurteilt werden? Es gibt sicherlich Muslims in Europa mit einer solchen Wut, daß manche von ihnen in der Lage sind, ernsthaft über Anschläge nachzudenken. Man hat das ja auch gerufen. Aber dies zu verwechseln mit einer tödlichen Gefahr für ein Land, ist wohl eher unsinnig.

Wie auch immer, solche möglichen Pläne werden genutzt, um eine Klima des Terrors zu schaffen, der Bedrohung und der Angst. Am besten, wenn das zu hysterischen Reaktionen der Bevölkerung führt.

Charakteristisch die Reaktion der Medien. In den ersten beiden Tagen wird die Gefahr als real und gegenwärtig in den buntesten Farben geschildert. Dann, ab dem dritten Tag, wird nur noch über Reaktionen auf die Gefahr gesprochen. An den Flughäfen das Chaos. Jener Politiker forderte die flächendeckende Videoüberwachung, jener andere bewaffnete Zugbegleiter, der dritte die Aufhebung der Trennung von Polizei und Geheimdiensten, auch Terrordatei genannt. Fehlt nur noch der Politiker, der die vorbeugende Todesstrafe für Terrorverdächtige fordert und der, welcher alle Wohnungen abhören lassen will. Unerklärlicherweise kommt nicht eine einzige Meldung mehr über die Fortschritte der Polizei bei der Aufklärung der Anschlagspläne. Unerklärlicherweise wird auch nicht in einziges Zitat von einem der Verteidiger der Verdächtigen gebracht. Warum nicht? Vor was hat man Angst? Hat man etwas zu verbergen?

Mehr und mehr Rechte von Angeklagten werden abgebaut, ja schon von Verdächtigen. Belege für den Verdacht sind nicht mehr nötig. Sind es wirklich ein paar Handvoll von aggressiven muslimisch-religiös-fundamentalistischen Terrorplanern, wegen denen man all dies veranstaltet? Der Straßenverkehr fordert weit mehr Opfer und hört man da Politiker das Verbot von Autos fordern?

Warum all die Lügen?

Nein, die Aufrüstung geht gegen das eigene Volk. WIR sind im Fadenkreuz der Politikerkaste. Sie wissen, wir werden uns all die Verarmung und Entrechtung nicht so einfach gefallen lassen. Sie wissen, was auf sie zukommt.

Stephan Fuchs – Wird man in einigen Jahren das Kapitel der geheimen Folterjets aufschlagen, dann hat mitunter ein Weblogbetreiber maßgebliches zur Aufdeckung und Archivierung beigetragen. Das Weblog World.Content.News von Helmut Küfner hat geschafft, was unsere Regierungen in ganz Europa lieber unter den Tisch gekehrt hätten.

Küfner dokumentiert die Vernachlässigung eines menschenverachtenden Verbrechens – ein Verbrechen an dem unsere Regierungen durch Schweigen mitbeteiligt sind.

Küfner hat deshalb auf eigene Faust recherchiert und kann nach monatelangen Nachforschungen 464 Landungsdaten von insgesamt 50 Flugzeugen präsentieren: Mit Flugzeugnummer, Betreiber/Eigentümer, Datum der Landung und Ort. Besonders interessant: Oft konnte auch die Herkunft der Flugzeuge, ihre Flugrouten sowie ihr eigentliches Ziel nachvollzogen werden. Dies sollte sämtlichen Staaten Europas peinlich sein, denn noch immer weigern sich neben anderen die deutschen- die englischen- und die schweizerischen Bundesbehörden Details über Flugbewegungen einer klandestinen Geheimoperation über europäischem Boden preiszugeben. Emotionslos und frei von Wertungen präsentiert Küfner die Daten als Fakten. Fakten die entlarven und eine Frage stellt: Was machen unsere Geheimdienste außer Verbrechen geheim halten?

Schrecken, Blut, Drogen & Tod
Es sind die Daten eines menschenverachtenden Verbrechens. Die Spur einer geheimen Operation, die mit keinem unserer Gesetze im „Kampf gegen den Terror“ vertretbar wäre. Die Spur freilich ist selber Terror. Sie zeugt von Schrecken, Pein, Blut, Drogen – und bisweilen vom Tod. Es ist die Spur der Entführung zum Teil unschuldiger Menschen in Geheimgefängnisse in denen sie gefoltert- und Geständnisse gepresst wurden. Ohne Recht, ohne öffentliche Aufsicht, ohne Sicherheit- zum Teil ohne zu Wissen aus welchem Grund.

Es ist vielleicht falsch, einen Vergleich zu den Schrecken des zweiten Weltkrieges zu ziehen, der Schrecken ist nicht vergleichbar. Vergleichbar indes ist, dass wir das Wissen hatten. Unsere Eltern haben gewusst, was damals in Konzentrationslagern geschehen ist. Selbst in der Schweiz gab es Ärzte, die von Lagern zurückgekehrt sind und dem Bundesrat Bericht erstattet haben. Man wollte nicht glauben. Unsere Regierungen glauben auch heute nicht, was ihre Geheimdienste eigentlich schon lange wissen. Schlimmer noch, es braucht Menschen wie der Weblogbetreiber von World.Content.News und Journalisten die sein Wissen verbreiten um Verbrechen aufzudecken. Peinlich, die Regierungen würden das nie tun – ausser zum Schaden anderer Regierungen.

Mutig, dass es Menschen gibt die trotz all den Schwierigkeiten eine enorme Leistung erbringen, finanzielle Einbussen in Kauf nehmen und Monate lang ihre Familien vertrösten müssen um die Spur eines großen Staats-Verbrechens zu dokumentieren. Ihnen gebührt grosser Dank und grösster Respekt. Es sind die eigentlichen Helden im Krieg.

World. Content. News

World Content News – Nach über viereinhalb Jahren Gefangenschaft in Guantanamo ist der 24-jährige Bremer Murat Kurnaz wieder in die Freiheit entlassen worden – sein Martyrium endete so wie es begonnen hatte: Mit einer Militärmaschine der US-Armee wurde er in Fesseln wieder nach Hause geschickt. Dabei war den US-Behörden spätestens seit 2002 klar, dass gegen ihn nichts vorlag.

„Gefesselt, gedemütigt, entwürdigt wurde er den deutschen Behörden übergeben“, berichtete sein Anwalt Bernd Docke auf einer Pressekonferenz. „Er war am Boden festgekettet. Die Augen waren ihm zugeklebt. In einem riesigen Transportflugzeug war er allein mit einer Eskorte von 15 US-Soldaten.“ Kurnaz sei wie ein Tier behandelt worden.

Sein amerikanischer Anwalt teilte mit, Kurnaz sei bereits unmittelbar nach seiner Festnahme in Afghanistan schwer gefoltert worden. In Guantanamo seien die Misshandlungen dann zwar weniger schwer und versteckter gewesen, hätten aber seelische Schäden bei ihm hinterlassen.

„Murat Kurnaz hat vierdreiviertel Jahre in einem Käfig gelebt“, so Rechtsanwalt Docke. „Er hat unter grellem Neonlicht gelebt, das nie ausging. Er wusste nicht, ob er je wieder freikommen würde.“

Gegen die frühere Bundesregierung wurden schwere Vorwürfe wegen einer Mitschuld laut. Sie hätte Kurnaz bereits 2002 wieder nach Hause holen können, hätte dies jedoch abgelehnt. Auch bei seiner Heimatstadt Bremen habe es ein „politisches und moralisches Versagen“ gegeben, sagte Docke. Sie hatte ihm nach seiner Gefangennahme vorübergehend die Aufenthaltsgenehmigung entzogen, da er sie auf Grund seiner Haft nicht verlängern konnte.

Voraussichtlich wird sich jetzt auch der Geheimdienstausschuß des Deutschen Bundestages mit der Frage beschäftigen, ob der BND bereits an der Verschleppung von Murat Kurnaz beteiligt war und welche Vorgänge dazu beitrugen, daß er nicht schon vier Jahre früher entlassen wurde.

Kurnaz wurde jetzt ohne Auflagen freigelassen. Trotz fehlender Beweise muss er jedoch in Deutschland mit einem Verfahren wegen Verdachts auf Bildung einer kriminellen Vereinigung rechnen.

„Die Vereinigten Staaten haben die Zusicherung erbeten, dass Herr Kurnaz menschlich behandelt wird „, bemerkte ein Sprecher der US-Verteidi-gungsministeriums vorsichtshalber mit entsprechendem Zynismus Außerdem solle die Bundesregierung geeignete Schritte unternehmen, um sicherzustellen, dass er keine Bedrohung für die internationale Gemeinschaft, Deutschland oder die Vereinigten Staaten darstellt.

Ob es nun in den USA eine Klage wegen Haftentschädigung geben wird, ist nach Auskunft seines Anwaltes noch offen. Kurnaz wird sich jetzt erst einmal von den Strapazen erholen und will daher vorerst keine öffentlichen Interviews geben.

Währenddessen bleiben mindestens 450 weitere Häftlinge in dem berüchtigten US-Lager auf Kuba dem Unrechtssystem ausgesetzt. Etwa 120 von ihnen sollen nach Angaben des Pentagons in unbestimmter Zeit noch freigelassen werden, für den Rest ist fraglich, ob sie die Insel jemals in Freiheit lebend wieder verlassen werden. Im Juni hatte es im Lager drei Selbstmorde gegeben, zuvor waren bereits 41 Selbstmordversuche bekanntgeworden.

AFP – Nach der Festnahme eines der beiden mutmaßlichen Bahnbombenleger wird weiter unter Hochdruck nach seinem Komplizen gefahndet. Zugleich erließ der Ermittlungsrichter des Bundesgerichtshofs gegen den ersten Verdächtigen Haftbefehl wegen versuchten vielfachen Mordes. Außerdem wird er der Mitgliedschaft in einer terroristischen Vereinigung verdächtigt. Der 21-jährige Libanese war Samstagmorgen in Kiel gefasst worden. Bundesinnenminister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) sprach angesichts des Falls von einer „ungewöhnlich ernsten“ Sicherheitslage und forderte schärfere Gesetze.

Die Bundesanwaltschaft teilte mit, gegen den in Kiel lebenden Youssef Mohamad E.H. sei Haftbefehl erlassen worden. Der Student hatte bei seiner Festnahme einen Koffer dabei und versuchte laut Behörden, sich abzusetzen. Der Verdächtige sei durch Videoaufnahmen identifiziert worden, die das Zusammentreffen mit dem zweiten Verdächtigen auf dem Hauptbahnhof Köln zeigten. In den Bombenkoffern seien außerdem DNA-Spuren des Festgenommenen gefunden worden. Er soll mit seinem Komplizen am 31. Juli im Kölner Hauptbahnhof zwei Kofferbomben in Regionalzügen deponiert haben.

Die Täter wollten die Bomben per Zeitzünder zeitgleich vor Erreichen der Bahnhöfe Dortmund und Koblenz zur Explosion bringen. Die Sprengsätze waren nur wegen handwerklicher Fehler nicht explodiert. Laut Bundesanwaltschaft hätten beide Koffer-Sprengsätze bei einer Explosion eine „erhebliche Druckwelle“ erzeugt. Die ebenfalls in den Koffern befindlichen Brandbeschleuniger hätten demnach einen „Feuerball“ auslösen können.

Der festgenommene Libanese lebte seit September 2004 in Deutschland und studierte in Kiel das Fach Mechatronik. Sein Zimmer in einem Studentenwohnheim sowie eine zum Wohnheim gehörende Werkstatt wurden durchsucht. Dabei seien keine „explosionsgefährlichen Bestandteile“ gefunden worden, erklärte die Bundesanwaltschaft. Die Auswertung der Durchsuchungen dauere an. Nach dem zweiten Verdächtigen werde weiter gefahndet, hieß es. Aus ermittlungstaktischen Gründen könnten dazu derzeit keine Einzelheiten mitgeteilt werden.

„So nah war die Bedrohung noch nie“, sagte Schäuble im ZDF. Der Innenminister sagte weiter, nötig seien jetzt „leistungsfähige Nachrichtendienste“ sowie eine „enge Partnerschaft“ mit ausländischen Geheimdiensten. „Wir müssen auch die Antiterrordatei jetzt zustande bringen“, sagte der Minister. Er rechne mit einer Einigung im September.

Harald Haack – Menschen machen Fehler. Und wenn Menschen Fehler machen, gilt das als menschlich. Fehler, so wissen wir inzwischen, gibt es immer wieder – selbst bei massiven Sicherheitsvorkehrungen. Das lehrt uns, dass es keine echte Sicherheit geben kann.

Kein Mensch, außer dem der es geschafft hatte die Kontrollen am Flughafen London-Gatwick zu überwinden – ein zwölfjähriger Junge nämlich -, weiß, wo es die Schwachstelle gab. Trotz der massiven Sicherheitsvorkehrungen aufgrund der kürzlich verbreiteten Terrorwarnungen konnte der Junge, der aus einem Heim in der Nähe von Liverpool ausgebüchst war, sich am Montag, den 14. August 2006, als Großbritannien es mit seiner Terrorwarnung noch ganz „ernst“ meinte, in ein Flugzeug nach Lissabon schmuggeln. Er hatte schon ein Getränk und einen Snack erhalten, als er Flugbegleitern kurz vor dem Start als „überzähliger Passagier“ auffiel. Typisch britisch und hochnäsig borniert kommentierte ein Flughafensprecher die Panne: „Wir sind zuversichtlich, dass keinerlei Gefahr für Passagiere, Besatzung oder das Flugzeug bestand.“ Dagegen zeigte sich die Fluglinie „Monarch Airline“, in dessen Flugzeug der kleine Rotzlümmel einen Sitzplatz gefunden hatte, sehr besorgt. Auch die Mutter des Jungen war schockiert und versteht nicht „wie um alles in der Welt er in den Flieger gekommen ist.“

Aber es gibt Hinweise: Unbestätigten Berichten zufolge soll das Gatwicker Personal irritiert und überlastet gewesen sein, weil die Koffer und Taschen der Heathrower Passagiere in die Ausgabe des Ankunftsbereiches von Gatwick gelangt waren, es dort daraufhin ein irres Durcheinander gab und der Abflugbereich zeitweise vernachlässigt werden musste. Vielleicht war an dem Durcheinander eine Art „Mr. Bean“ schuld, ein übereifriger, chaotischer Sicherheitsmann. Vielleicht fällt in diese Kategorie auch ein Mann, der ebenfalls in Gatwick am frühen Dienstagsmorgen vom Reinigungspersonal an Bord eines leeren Flugzeuges entdeckt wurde. Er soll eine Aktentasche bei sich getragen und nach seiner Brieftasche gesucht haben. Damit löste er eine Durchsuchungsaktion aus. Eine Bombe wurde offensichtlich nicht gefunden. Ob aber die Brieftasche des Mannes gefunden wurde, gab die britische Polizei nicht bekannt. Sie sah die Sicherheitsvorschriften jedenfalls nicht verletzt. Das betreffende Flugzeug konnte dann endlich nach Mallorca starten – ohne dem Mann.

Harald Haack – Für Flugreisende könnte es bald ein weiteres Ärgernis geben. Denkbar ist, dass Mobiltelefone, Kameras und Notebooks auch im Koffer künftig nicht mehr mit auf die Reise gehen dürfen. Die Akkus solcher Geräte stellen nämlich ein Sicherheitsrisiko dar. Wahrscheinlich wird es den Anti-Terror-Kämpfern der Flughäfen egal sein, ob die Akkus nur dann möglicherweise eine Gefahr sind, wenn sie ihre Energie abgeben oder den Strom über Netzgeräte aufnehmen.

Theoretisch wie auch praktisch ließe sich Plastiksprengstoff in Akkus unterbringen und Geräte könnten winzige Vorrichtungen enthalten, um den Sprengstoff zu zünden, ohne dass die Geräte zuvor in ihrer Funktion beeinträchtigt wären. Zwar bestätigte die Pressestelle der Bundespolizei am Frankfurter Flughafen, dass es durchleuchtungstechnisch möglich sei Sprengstoffe in Akkus aufzuspüren, doch ob dies für alle Sprengstoffe gilt, wollte man nicht verraten und verwies ans Bundesinnenministerium. Dessen Antwort steht gegenwärtig noch aus.

Aber es geht auch ohne Explosivstoffe, die in Akkus versteckt werden. Vor einigen Jahren litt der Mobilphonehersteller Nokia unter der Blamage, seine Akkus seien ein Sicherheitsrisiko für die Kunden. Von explodierten Handys war die Rede; ein technisches Problem soll die Ursache gewesen. Dann gab es angeblich einen anderen Fall in Schweden: Ein Notebook-Nutzer will sich seine Hoden angekokelt haben, weil das Notebook, das er auf seinem Schoß benutzte, zu heiß geworden war.

Und nun sah sich der Computerhersteller Dell veranlasst, den größten Rückruf in seiner 22-jährigen Geschichte auszurufen, weil viele der 4,1 Millionen Lithium-Ionen-Batterien „im Extremfall“ die Notebooks in Brand stecken könnten.

Dell muss Akkus zurückrufen, die von Sony hergestellt wurden. Ein Konzernsprecher sagte, sie könnten sich überhitzen, Rauch entwickeln und Feuer fangen. Davon betroffene Kunden sollen von Dell mit Ersatzbatterien versorgt werden.

Fast jeder Fünfte der 22 Millionen Dell-Notebooks, die zwischen dem 1. April 2004 und dem 18. Juli 2006 verkauft wurden, sollen solche gefährlichen Akkus enthalten. Besonders die Modelle Latitude, Inspiron und Precision zählen dazu. Aber welche Modelle genau von der Rückrufaktion betroffen sind, will Dell auf einer Internet-Seite erläutern. Leider versäumte es Dell diese Internet-Seite mit entsprechenden Sicherheitsmerkmalen auszustatten. Sie ist nicht zertifiziert. Entsprechend gibt es vom Firefox-Browser Warnungen.

Besitzer von Dell-Notebooks mit Sony-Akkus sollten diese Batterien entfernen und den Computer vorerst an die Steckdose anzuschließen, rät Dell.

Dell Battery Recall
Dell Batterierückruf

01►Why is the Bank of New York Collecting Donations for a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization?
02►Did LeT Earthquake Relief Money Fund the London Airline Plot?
03►Pakistani Charity Under Scrutiny in Plot
04►Pakistan Denies Islamic Charity Link to UK Bomb Plot
05►Italy: Over 13,000 Potential Terrorist Targets ‚Under Control

Why is the Bank of New York Collecting Donations for a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization?
By Evan Kohlmann / Counterterrorism-Blog– As my colleague Victor Comras has written, this week, the U.S. State Department finally took the step of naming the Pakistani organizations Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Idara al-Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) as banned derivatives of the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET).

Last January, the Danish Institute of International Studies published a paper I wrote on the role of Islamic charitable groups in terrorist financing including a lengthy discussion of LET, Jamaat-ud-Dawa and IKK. These organizations have a militantly anti-American agenda and according to the U.S. Defense Department–provided direct assistance to Al-Qaida members fleeing Afghanistan in 2001.

Americans might be surprised to learn that–all along–the IKK has been collecting donations from inside the U.S. via the Wall Street branch of the Bank of New York (only steps away from the former site of the World Trade Center). The IKK’s website advertised this arrangement openly in English: „FOR TRANSFER OF FUNDS IN US DOLLARS… Please transfer the amount on the routing as follows: To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK. ONE WALL STREET, NEW YORK. NY 10286, USA.“

Any funds collected by the Bank of New York were then routed on to an „Islamic Banking Account“ held at Bank Alfalah Limited in Karachi, Pakistan. For IKK donors in Europe, a corresponding Euro routing system was also established, care of „Bayerische Hypo – und Veriensbank AG“ in Munich, Germany.

It remains to be seen whether the Bank of New York will finally close up shop in its dealings with Lashkar-e-Taiba as a result of the latest State Department designation. This case is a reminder that interdicting international terrorist financing remains a major ongoing challenge for U.S. banking institutions and regulators.

Did LeT Earthquake Relief Money Fund the London Airline Plot?
By Evan Kohlmann / Counterterrorism-Blog – An article in today’s New York Times suggests that Pakistani investigators have found a possible financial link between those arrested this week in connection with a would-be terrorist plot targeting U.S. airliners and a Pakistani militant group that, until just a few months ago, was raising money directly from the United States through the Wall Street branch of the Bank of New York.

The group in question, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is merely a cover name for the internationally-banned terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)–which has strong links to Al-Qaida and harbors a violently anti-American agenda. The relationship between the two groups is no secret, and even senior Pakistani government officials have acknowledged as much in media interviews. Last January, in a paper published by the Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS), I discussed the troubling continued existence of LeT/Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and its questionable role in providing „earthquake relief“ inside Pakistan.

My advice to the Pakistanis is the same now as it was then: „Pakistan must take care that a humanitarian disaster like October’s earthquake does not lead to a manmade disaster fomented by religious fanatics emboldened by the sudden spread of [Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s] populist message. At a time when Pakistan’s government is increasingly under siege by fundamentalist militants, it must take care to keep such NGOs and missionary charities at arms length – to avoid inadvertently becoming their next victim.“

More relevant excerpts from the paper as follows:
„Organizations such as IHH are quick to respond to natural disasters and other human catastrophes. Unfortunately, these groups often seek to use these situations to gain leverage with destitute Muslim refugees. In August 1999, when a devastating earthquake struck Turkey, IHH reached the affected zones, in some cases, even before the Turkish government. Friction quickly grew between authorities tasked with relief and independent Islamist “humanitarian” groups. Ultimately, Turkey was forced to ban the IHH from participating in earthquake aid efforts because it was counted among several “fundamentalist organizations” operating “secret bank accounts” that were refusing to allow local authorities to oversee the distribution of their aid resources.“

„A similar situation is now brewing in Pakistan following the catastrophic October 2005 earthquake. Prompted into action by public anger at the slow pace of aid to local refugees, a host of religious extremist organizations have stepped forward in hopes of filling the void and presenting themselves as populist alternatives to the secular rule of President Pervez Musharraf. One such group is the political wing of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – an entity formerly known as Markaz Dawa wal-Irshad and currently operating under the name“Jamat-ud-Dawa” (“The Islamic Missionary Movement”).

The MDI/LeT was founded during the late 1980s as Muslims from across Central Asia and the Middle East were fighting together against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After witnessing the formation of organized mujahideen units in Afghanistan – consequently – a group of Pakistani Muslim militants decided to “take[] a leaf from the book of [the] Afghans … [and] lit the torch of Jihad movement.” This new movement – which became eventually known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (a.k.a. “The Army of the Pure”, “The Army of Madinah”) – wascomprised of both intellectual and military components.

Markaz al-Dawa wal Irshad (MDI), the political wing of the LeT, was established first in 1986 for the purpose of “organi[zing] the Pakistanis participating in Afghan Jihad on one platform.”

According to internal documents published by LeT, the Pakistani founders of MDI “had [the] full co-operation of Arab Mujahideen who taught [them] the intricacies of Jihad and Qital [combat].”

On February 22, 1990, a group of Pakistani clerics and mujahideen commanders led by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed from the Ahl-e-Hadith movement in Pakistan “laid the foundation” for the MDI’s military wing (known as Lashkar-e-Taiba) with the joint establishment of their Camp Tango training facility in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.64 According to both Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and foreign recruits who joined Lashkar, one of the key individuals responsible for LeT’s formation and development was a prominent Saudi Al-Qaida member known as Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz “Barbaros” (a.k.a. Abdelrahman al-Dosari).“

„Since its inception in 1990, the MDI’s military wing Lashkar-e-Taiba has participated in countless guerilla attacks on Indian soldiers, bombings of civilian and military targets in Jammu-Kashmir, and terrorist assaults on civilian targets in India proper, including a December 2000 attack on the Red Ford complex in Delhi, the Indian national capital.

Red Fort is considered a geographic landmark, featuring a museum and hosting thousands of tourists each year. According to LeT sources, a two-man Lashkar fidayeen (“suicide commando”) unit forced its way into Red Fort, opening fire indiscriminately inside the ancient, Mughal-built structure. The fidayeen squad reportedly killed two people and seriously wounded another – the senior commander of LeT Hafiz Muhammad Saeed later declared that the Red Fort attack was “a symbolic activity” intended to force India into withdrawing from Kashmir.66 In December 2001, the U.S. State Department officially named Lashkar-e-Taiba as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

In his public statement on the designation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Lashkar of “seek[ing] to assault democracy, undermine peace and stability in South Asia, and destroy relations between India and Pakistan.” LeT’s political wing MDI was subsequently forced to change its name after it was identified in the same U.S. government designation as a “Sunni anti-US missionary organization” and part of LeT’s “fraternal network.'“

„Though the organization (currently known as Jamat-ud-Dawa) remains under the lead of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, it has somehow managed to survive Pakistani purges on Islamic
militants – perhaps by publicly disavowing any direct link to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Nonetheless, Jamat-ud-Dawa continues to push forward the agenda of LeT, including through charitable subsidiaries such as Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq (a.k.a. “the Humanitarian Services Institution”). The mission behind the establishment of Idara Khidmat speaks volumes about the intentions of its founders. According to the website of Jamat-ud-Dawa, Idara Khidmat was formed in order to frustrate “certain hidden objectives” of other competing relief agencies from around the world:

In particular the aid donor institutions funded by the western countries are busy in preaching Christianity. They lure the people into meeting the basic needs of life to convert their faith avoiding argumentation. Africa is a special target of these Christian aid donor agencies. All the countries of South Asia in Middle East and Central Asia, western missionaries are engaged in changing the faith… Tsunami was the worst catastrophe of this century that rocked many countries.

More than twenty hundred thousands peoples were dead and hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless. Many aid-giving agencies reached this hour with their hideous traditional agenda and the news of their interest in making the people Christian instead of giving aid spread all over the world. Muslim orphan children of Ache were sent to Christian educational institutes and literature of Christianity was distributed. This conspiracy failed soon.

„Indeed, in the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster in East Asia, Idara Khidmat-e-Khalaq urged charitable donations and emphasized “[s]ome of the scholars are saying that it is imperative for all muslims do their bit for the relief efforts – for the sake of humanity as well as to compete with the non-muslim efforts.” In order to accomplish that goal, Idara Khidmat has likewise established “partnerships” with other suspect fundamentalist charities – including the previously discussed IHH in Turkey.

The designated recipients of support from Idara Khidmat admittedly include “relatives of martyrs” – presumably referring to the families of Pakistani mujahideen killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Despite having been quick in the past to crack down on some suspected Arab-Afghan charitable front groups like Mercy International, Pakistani officials have not been as eager to crush the financial infrastructures of native militant groups like Jamat-ud-Dawa/Lashkar-e-Taiba. Despite having placed Jamat-ud-Dawa on a “terrorism watch list” in late 2003, Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao recently conceded during an interview that Jamat-ud-Dawa had nonetheless prospered by playing a key role in “the lifeline of our rescue and relief work.”

Sherpao was quick to insist that Jamat-ud-Dawa was “only involved in extensive charity work, and their footprint now covers almost the entire quake-affected zone in the country.”74 Sherpao’s comments reflect the surprising degree of deference paid to Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and his colleagues by the Pakistani government.

Perhaps Pakistani President Musharraf hopes to blunt the wrath of fundamentalist Pakistani militants by permitting them to continue on in a limited national role. Undoubtedly, given the desperation of thousands of Pakistani earthquake refugees, he seeks to avoid being accused by “domestic Islamic organizations” of “attacking legitimate Islamic institutions and intentionally hampering relief efforts.’”

„However, any strategy by Musharraf that offers legitimacy to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamat-ud-Dawa, or Idara al-Khidmat also carries with it major risks. One cannot but recall the prophetic warning of the Bosnian Muslim Military Intelligence Service in 1995 about the “polarizing” effect of extremist NGOs and the “far reaching damaging consequences” of tolerating them.

In a time of national emergency, no genuine, unconditional aid can logically be refused. But Pakistan must take care that a humanitarian disaster like October’s earthquake does not lead to a manmade disaster fomented by religious fanatics emboldened by the sudden spread of their populist message. At a time when Pakistan’s government is increasingly under siege by fundamentalist militants, it must take care to keep such NGOs and missionary charities at arms length – to avoid inadvertently becoming their next victim.“

Pakistani Charity Under Scrutiny in Plot
By Dexter Filkins & Souad Mekhennet /// New York Times, Aug. 13 – British and Pakistani investigators are trying to determine whether the group of Britons suspected of plotting to blow up as many as 10 commercial airliners may have received money raised for earthquake relief by a Pakistani charity that is a front for an Islamic militant group.

The charity, Jamaat ud Dawa, which is active in the mosques of Britain’s largest cities, played a significant role in carrying out relief efforts after last October’s earthquake in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

It is one of the most militant of the groups battling the part of Kashmir controlled by India. In May, it was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States government.

British and Pakistani investigators are looking into the possibility that the group, whose name means the Association of the Call to Righteousness, passed the earthquake donations raised in British mosques to the plotters, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

One former Pakistani official close to the intelligence officials there said Jamaat ud Dawa provided the money that was to be used to buy plane tickets for the suspects to conduct a practice run as well as the attacks themselves. The money is believed to have come directly from the group’s network in Britain and was not sent from Pakistan, the former official said.

“The Pakistanis have been asked by the British to examine the links between Jamaat ud Dawa and the suspects in the airplane attack,” the former Pakistani official said.

According to a former British security official familiar with the investigation, some of the money raised in British mosques also went to the group’s militant activities in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Both the former Pakistani official and the former British official spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Pakistani officials detained Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the head of the organization.

On Sunday, a senior American law enforcement official said that the British police and intelligence officials had identified several suspected accomplices of the plotters who were believed to have provided support to the plot outside Britain. The new suspects were identified by checking the arrested men’s computers, the official said.

After the earthquake, which killed some 73,000 people, Jamaat ud Dawa raised funds in British Pakistani areas in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The group also urged British people of Pakistani origin to go to the region to help in the relief efforts, and hundreds did.

Several of the 23 suspects still in custody after the arrests by British police on Thursday — most of them Britons of Pakistani descent — traveled to Pakistan last year, ostensibly to help with earthquake relief efforts, said Nasir Ahmed, a leader among Britain’s Pakistanis and a member of the House of Lords.
Mr. Ahmed said he was not sure how many of the suspects rounded up last week had gone to Kashmir to help, but among those who had gone were the suspects arrested in High Wycombe, west of London. The former Pakistani official said several of the suspects had gone to Pakistan at the time of the earthquake.

The official declined to say whether the suspects were believed to have been organizers or people who had provided support, like passports and safe houses.

Mr. Ahmed said it was possible that those who went came into contact with the militant Islamic organizations that were doing the relief work on the Pakistani-controlled side of Kashmir, where most of the casualties were. Indeed, at the time, Jamaat ud Dawa was welcomed by people in the area for stepping in where the Pakistani government had failed. The group was praised as one of the few providing aid efficiently, while Muslims around the world complained that Pakistanis had been abandoned.

“In the first few days, it was only religious organizations, the militant organizations, that were prepared to dig out people and provide relief supplies,” Mr. Ahmed said. “It is possible that young people, many people, who have gone from U.K., may have fallen into hands of organizations like Jamaat Ud Dawa.”

As both a militant group and a social welfare organization, Jamaat ud Dawa resembles its brethren in other parts of the Muslim world, like Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States government shut down many Muslim charities that it said were financing militant activities.

No one from Jamaat ud Dawa could be located Sunday in Britain. Its Web site says the organization has provided food to some 54,000 families who were struck by the earthquake. It also claims to be “one of the most feared militant groups fighting in Kashmir.” The Web site displays a photograph of Mr. Saeed leading a demonstration protesting the United States government’s designation of his group as a terrorist organization.

The details of the suspected plot to blow up the airliners began to emerge Thursday, when the police in Britain detained 24 people. The authorities said the suspects, most of them British-born young men of Pakistani descent, intended to smuggle liquid-based explosives onto 9 or 10 commercial airliners headed for the United States and detonate them as they approached. British officials said the plot, had it been successful, could have killed thousands.

The day before, on Wednesday, the police in Pakistan had arrested a British-born man they said was linked to Al Qaeda. They say they have at least one other British man in custody and are looking for at least one other suspect.

American and Pakistani officials have long believed that Jamaat ud Dawa is the successor organization to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was banned in 2002 by the Pakistani government, under American pressure, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

It has called for holy war against the United States, India and Israel. Although it has avoided direct association with Al Qaeda, links between the groups have often surfaced. Abu Zubaida, the senior Qaeda member captured by Pakistani forces in the city Faisalabad in 2002, was found hiding in a safe house for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan Denies Islamic Charity Link to UK Bomb Plot
By Benjamin Sand 15 August – Pakistan has rejected recent news reports linking a local charity with the alleged plan to blow up passenger planes headed to the United States from Britain. Officials insist money donated for earthquake relief did not fund suspected terrorists.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told reporters the allegations that money was diverted from charities to terror groups are completely baseless.

„These are all absurd stories. The objective is to malign Pakistan and to cast a shadow on the efforts made by Pakistan to uncover and foil this terrorist plot,“ she said.

The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers published stories this week suggesting a Pakistani charity, Jamaat ud-Dawa, may have provided funds for the alleged bomb plot.

Authorities in London are reportedly investigating an unnamed Pakistani charity with offices in Britain.

Britain is holding 23 people for questioning in connection with the broader investigation into the alleged bomb plot.

Pakistan, which has been credited with helping uncover the plan, has also arrested at least 17 other suspects, including a British citizen with alleged ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

The New York Times also said this week that Pakistani authorities are exploring a possible link between the suspects and the Jamaat ud-Dawa charity.

The United States has banned the charity as a terrorist organization on the grounds that it has links with the Pakistani Islamic militant group Lashkar-e Tayyiba, which is a State Department designated terrorist organization.

Lashkar-e Tayyiba is one of the largest groups fighting Indian forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. U.S. officials accuse the group of maintaining ties with al-Qaida. Pakistan banned the organization in 2002 for links to terrorism.

Despite those concerns, Jamaat ud-Dawa, the charity, operated relief camps in Kashmir following last year’s deadly earthquake.
Jamaat ud-Dawa has denied funding any terrorist activities. It has also denied claims in The New York Times that it raises funds in mosques in Britain.

Don Van Natta contributed reporting from New Jersey for this article.

Italy: Over 13,000 Potential Terrorist Targets Under Control
August (AKI) – Security services in Italy are keeping under surveillance some 13,664 potential terrorist targets and have deployed some 19,559 operatives to do the job, the Interior Ministry announced on Monday. In the wake of last week’s foiled bomb plot at London’s airports securty measures in Italy have been „additionally reinforced,“ the ministry said in its latest report on security in the country.

Security at potential targets such as airports has come under greater scrutiny, and with British authorities arresting alleged Muslim extremists in connection with with the plane bombing plot, Italian police have also stepped up controls at „meeting points used by the Islamic community, call centres, Internet points and Islamic butcher shops,“ the ministry report said.

In recent months police have been able to deploy more agents to monitor terrorism threats by cutting down on the number of staff previoulsy involved in security escort duties from 3,116 to 2,686, the report said.

Over the last year security agents had identified 82,752 terrrorism suspects, reported 1,508 to the judicial authorities and arrested 618. In addition deportation procedures were in place for 2,012 foreign citizens, of whom 55 have already been expelled from Italy.

Since the beginning of August deportation procedures have started against seven North Africans – one Moroccan, three Algerians and three Tunisians – previously detained but released due to a recently introduced general amnesty. The seven are believed to be linked to „international terrorism cells,“ the report said.

The London Terror Gang II
The London Terror Gang I

Fair Use Notice: JNvH contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is being made available for purposes of education and research of the subscribers themselves. This constitutes a „fair use“ of such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

01►The Conspiracy
02►MI5 Tracked Group For A Year
03►U.S., U.K. At Odds Over Timing Of Arrests
04►Investigators Tracing Terror Plot Money Trail
05►Airline Stocks

The Conspiracy
How a group of suicide bombers planned to blow up 10 planes
Independent / by Jason Bennetto, Kim Sengupta and Steve Connor. Aug 11 2006 – About 9pm on Wednesday, Britain’s police and intelligence chiefs learnt that a British-based al-Qa’ida cell was within 48 hours of mounting a terror attack that could have been more deadly than 9/11.

Within hours, 24 suspected terrorists, mostly British-born, were arrested after raids across the South-east and Birmingham.

The emergency response was the culmination of more than a year of intensive surveillance and investigation by MI5 and the police in the largest counter-terror operation yet undertaken. Security chiefs believe they have foiled a plot to smuggle home-made explosives on to up to 10 passenger jets bound for the United States, to be detonated by suicide bombers.

The operation began with MI5 officers watching a group of people in London with suspected sympathies for the aims of al-Qa’ida. The targets were among a group of about 1,000 terror suspects that the expanded Security Service had under investigation. At first, it appears to have been fairly routine, but gradually the alarm bells started to ring.

The group had links throughout the country – east London, High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and Birmingham – as well as abroad. They were said to be taking a disturbing interest in aircraft and homemade explosives, and how to smuggle the latter through airport security.

The handful of suspects grew to more than 20 – aged between 17 and 35 – and the surveillance operation began sucking in ever more MI5 agents and bugging teams. Whitehall sources say most of the suspects are of Pakistani descent and include women. But a few of the alleged plotters are also of north African descent. One suspect was a white British man in his 20s living in High Wycombe, who converted to Islam about six months ago. Sources said most of those arrested were in their late teens or early 20s.

In December, the Metro-politan Police’s anti-terror branch was alerted. The targets were followed, their meetings and conversations recorded, their backgrounds investigated, and their bank accounts scrutinised. MI6 became involved and contacted a dozen counter-intelligence agencies in the United States, Pakistan, north African countries and Germany, for information and checks on the suspects. Information from phone taps and bugging devices began to build a picture of a well-organised and motivated group, who were inspired by the idea of a global jihad and sympathetic towards the aims of al-Qa’ida. Clear links with Pakistan and north Africa were established, including several visits to Pakistany, but the intelligence failed to uncover a „Mr Big“ from al-Qa’ida pulling the strings. It initially seems that, as with the July 7 suicide bombers, who killed 52 people in London last year, the plotters were a mixture of young people radicalised while living in Britain and influenced by travelling abroad.

The details of the plot also began to emerge. An experienced counter-terrorism officer described the findings as „bloody scary stuff“. The plotters were allegedly planning to commit phased attacks in which three or four aircraft would be blown up over the sea, thereby destroying any clues about how the bombs were smuggled on board.

There were claims from American sources that the terrorists could have been planning to bring down airliners over major cities, either in the UK or US, but that suggestion was discounted by a British anti-terrorist source. After the initial attacks, the terrorists would wait until fear and panic had spread, then commit two more series of attacks, each involving three or four planes. In total, they intended to bring down nine or 10 aircraft.

Details of the make-up of the bombs are still sketchy, but it appears the plotters will be accused of copying many of the tactics used in a liquid explosive device developed 10 years ago.

This plot, which was foiled, is known as the „Bojinka“ attack. In 1995, an Islamist terrorist aimed simultaneously to destroy 12 airliners over the Pacific. In this case, the mastermind was named as Ramzi Yousef, who developed liquid nitroglycerin explosives which could be hidden in contact-lens solution bottles. He also converted a digital watch into a timing switch and used two batteries hidden in his shoe to power light-bulb filaments and spark an explosion.

The British cell will be accused of using a liquid explosive which they were going to hide in a sports drinks bottles and smuggle through the airport security checks in hand mluggage.

An unconfirmed report from the US said the suspects planned to use a false bottom in the bottle and fill it with liquid explosive that had been dyed to match the colour of the drink.

The battery detonators would be sourced in electronic devices such as MP3 players or laptops. Based on details recorded from the suspects, the police had explosives specialists build a model which could be put together in minutes and blow a devastating hole in an aircraft.

The suspects were also allegedly heard discussing targets. On information presumably passed on by British police, US authorities said they had identified six to 10 airlines including United, American and Continental, all US carriers. Ten of their aircraft could hold as many as 2,800 passengers and crew. As the months of surveillance continued, police and politicians issued increasingly gloomy warnings. The investigation was gathering pace and counter-terrorism chiefs decided to act soon as they thought the plot was about to be implemented.

On Wednesday night, the security services believed there was a strong possibility that the cell was preparing to execute its plan within the next 48 hours, or flee to reassemble later.

On Tuesday, the Home Secretary, John Reid, warned that Britain was facing its most sustained period of serious threat since the end of the Second World War.

Liquid explosives
Many commercial explosives come as two ingredients – oxidant and fuel – which when mixed produce an explosive that can be detonated by an electrical charge. A bomb can be made by mixing relatively innocuous liquids such as acetone and hydrogen peroxide. Another well-known liquid explosive is nitroglycerine, right, which can be detonated with an electrical charge from the battery of an iPod or laptop computer.

„Most liquid explosives are unstable and dangerous to handle,“ said Professor Peter Zimmerman, chair of science and security at King’s College London. „The best-known example is nitroglycerine. But there are extremely safe commercial explosives which come in two liquids which are mixed just before they are to be detonated. Explosive detonators are small, simple and, if just lightly camouflaged, could escape detection by X-ray scanners.“

Clifford Jones, of the University of Aberdeen, said that if an explosion on an aircraft raised atmospheric cabin pressure by just 1 per cent, windows were likely to shatter.

If a blast raised pressure by 10 per cent, structural damage and possibly death would result. Dr Jones added: „A home-made bomb could be constructed with ammonium nitrate as the oxidant and something as innocuous as sawdust as the fuel. Overpressures can also arise when a liquid fuel and a liquid oxidant are so reacted, perhaps using hydrogen peroxide and acetone.“

Mi5 Tracked Group For A Year
Financial Times / by Bob Sherwood and Stephen Fidler Aug 10. – For more than a year, police and security service officers had tracked a „large group“ of people they were convinced were plotting to blow up transatlantic aircraft in mid-flight.

The detectives allowed the alleged plot to continue for as long as they dared. They followed the young Muslim men´s movements in London and other parts of the UK, listened into their meetings and monitored their spending. But by late on Wednesday, with the suspected suicide bomb plans well advanced and an attack considered „imminent“, MI5 and anti-terrorist branch officers decided they could wait no longer without risking public safety.

During the night, 24 people were arrested in a co-ordinated series of raids on homes in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. By 2am, MI5, which is responsible for domestic security, had raised Britain´s threat level to the highest possible alert. Surprised airport staff were told to implement the most stringent security precautions, causing chaos at the airports.

John Reid, the home secretary, said security chiefs were confident that „we have the main players in custody“ but the terror threat would remain at „critical“, which implies a terrorist attack is imminent, in case other members of the suspected terrorist cells were still at large.

Most of the people being questioned yesterday were believed to be young British Muslims, although police refused to rule out the possibility of international connections. The Pakistan government said on Thursday night that the country´s intelligence helped to crack the plot and had arrested some suspects. A senior government official said „two or three local people“ were held a few days ago in Lahore and Karachi. In London officers were beginning the painstaking task of ascertaining the suspect´s true identities and nationalities, interviewing witnesses and searching homes and business premises.

Peter Clarke, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, who is leading the investigation, said: „The investigation has focused on intelligence, which suggested that a plot was in existence to blow up transatlantic passenger aircraft, in flight.

„The intelligence suggested that this was to be achieved by means of concealed explosive devices smuggled onto the aircraft in hand baggage. The intelligence suggested that the devices were to be constructed in the UK, and taken through British airports.“

He said the number, timing and destinations of the planned attacks were still under investigation. But officials in Washington indicated that United, American and Continental flights to New York, Washington and California had been targeted.

British security officials suspected the innovative use of liquid explosives smuggled on board could have evaded airport detection devices. They said the method of attack, if used to blow up an aircraft over the ocean on a flight from the US to the UK, could potentially have been used repeatedly because its detection would have been all but impossible after the event.

One official said: „We were very lucky to have acquired the intelligence about the modus operandi of the attacks. If we hadn´t got the intelligence, they probably would have succeeded and there would have been little or no forensic evidence showing how they had done it. The modus operandi could have made waves of attacks feasible.“

British police had liaised closely with US law enforcement agencies for some time, although US officials said they learnt the intelligence pointed to threats against specific US airlines only in the past two weeks.

Security officials indicated that the police were aware of threats against a number of airlines but had not told the carriers for fear of compromising the operation. The airlines were eventually warned by US officials. During the night the government´s Cobra emergency response committee was hurriedly convened and met again twice during the morning, chaired by Mr Reid, to oversee developments.

Tony Blair, on holiday in the Caribbean, spoke to US President George Bush during the night to tell him the operation to disrupt the plot was under way. It is understood the two leaders had also spoken about the plot in the days before the arrests.

The US Department of Homeland Security increased its security level for US-bound flights from the UK to „red“, the first time it had applied the highest level for flights from another country. It also despatched US air marshals to Britain to provide extra security.

As the day wore on, Eurostar increased its security for trains through the Channel tunnel, and Kent police stationed armed officers at the county´s ferry ports.

Nine houses were evacuated in High Wycombe near to where at least one suspect was arrested as a „precautionary measure“. Police also raided a mosque in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, near where two men had been arrested.

The suspects, most of whom were arrested in London, were held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the 2000 Terrorism Act. The number of arrests suggests the group occupied significant resources from MI5, which has enjoyed a big increase in its budget since 2001 and is in the midst of a recruitment campaign.

However, officials said the breaking-up of the group would give the agency little respite because those involved would be quickly redeployed to tracking other suspects. John O´Connor, a security consultant and former Metropolitan police commander, said part of the alleged plotters´ objectives had been achieved. „Airports have been disrupted. Businesses have been disrupted.“

U.S., U.K. At Odds Over Timing Of Arrests
British wanted to continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says
NBC News / by Aram Roston, Lisa Myers, and the NBC News Investigative Unit Aug 12. – NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports. The source did say, however, that police believe one U.K.-based suspect was ready to conduct a „dry run.“ British authorities had wanted to let him go forward with part of the plan, but the Americans balked.

At the White House, a top aide to President Bush denied the account. „There was unprecedented cooperation and coordination between the U.S., the U.K. and Pakistani officials throughout the case,“ said Frances Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, „and we worked together to protect our citizens from harm while ensuring that we gathered as much info as possible to bring the plotters to justice. There was no disagreement between U.S. and U.K. officials.“
Another U.S. official, however, acknowledges there was disagreement over timing. Analysts say that in recent years, American security officials have become edgier than the British in such cases because of missed opportunities leading up to 9/11.

Aside from the timing issue, there was excellent cooperation between the British and the Americans, officials told NBC. The British official said the Americans also argued over the timing of the arrest of suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan, warning that if he was not taken into custody immediately, the U.S. would „render“ him or pressure the Pakistani government to arrest him.

British security was concerned that Rauf be taken into custody „in circumstances where there was due process,“ according to the official, so that he could be tried in British courts. Ultimately, this official says, Rauf was arrested over the objections of the British.

The official shed light on other aspects of the case, saying that while the investigation into the bombing plot began „months ago,“ some suspects were known to the security services even before the London subway bombings last year.

He acknowledged that authorities had conducted electronic and e-mail surveillance as well as physical surveillance of the suspects. Monitoring of Rauf, in particular, apparently played a critical role, revealing that the plotters had tested the explosive liquid mixture they planned to use at a location outside Britain. NBC News has previously reported that the explosive mixture was tested in Pakistan. The source said the suspects in Britain had obtained at least some of the materials for the explosive but had not yet actually prepared or mixed it.

Terror Plot Suspects Bugged By Mi5 ‚Sneak And Peak‘ Teams
Daily Mail / by Jason Lewis Aug 12. – MI5 agents secretly infiltrated a bomb factory and found liquid explosives and detonators weeks before they foiled the plot to blow up America-bound passenger jets flying from British airports.

The covert raids on homes of key terror suspects were also used to plant bugs and gather hours of crucial evidence against them.The carefully planned ’sneak and peek‘ operation involved members of the SAS and other surveillance specialists. It allowed the Security Service to eavesdrop on the suspected terrorists in the weeks before they were arrested. The high-risk strategy which allowed the terror plot to almost reach fruition – potentially putting civilian lives at risk – is understood to have been discussed with the Prime Minister and by the Government’s crisis management Cobra committee.

A Whitehall source said this was just one of a dozen terror plots being investigated by M15. But the audacious surveillance exercise – approved by the Home Secretary – allowed MI5 surveillance teams to build up a detailed picture of the group’s planning, contacts and, crucially, when they intended to strike.

Hours of tape recordings, photographs and video are now likely to be used as evidence against the men if they are charged for their part in the alleged plot. Tiny eavesdropping devices picked up conversations involving various members of the suspected terrorist gang as they put the finishing touches to their plans to blow up a series of commercial flights over the Atlantic. During months of careful work, the specialists are understood to have managed to get inside the gang’s bomb-making factory – giving final confirmation that the plotters were indeed planning mass murder.

In earlier, unrelated, anti-terrorist operations, MI5 specialists had managed to remove explosive compounds from one terror cell and replace it with inert material. But in this case MI5 chiefs decided this was not an option – making it even more critical that the plotters were watched 24 hours a day.

Intelligence sources last night indicated that some of the bomb-making chemicals and equipment being used by the gang had been seen ‚in situ‘ but could not be removed or replaced without raising suspicion. The operation is thought to have drawn on the expertise of a special unit providing specialist surveillance techniques which were first used against the IRA.

The unit was set up two years ago to operate against Islamic terrorists around the world as well as to counter the terrorism threat in Britain itself. Much of the core of the unit is made up of undercover surveillance operators who honed their skills fighting terrorists in Northern Ireland. There, among other covert operations, they were involved in the bugging of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, during the 1998 Good Friday peace negotiations.

Last night, Whitehall security sources confirmed MI5 had deployed ‚every resource at its disposal‘ during the long investigation. „Everything that could have been done was done to try to identify the precise nature of the threat we faced,“ said a source.

He added: „MI5 received large amounts of intelligence about the nature of this plot and it deployed resources to fill the gaps in its knowledge to develop a complete picture.“ The Security Service has a licence to ‚bug and burgle‘ but only with the approval of the Home Secretary in order that any evidence obtained can later be used in court.

Over several months, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke and, more recently, John Reid were given detailed updates on the progress of the investigation to enable them to sign warrants for sophisticated intrusive surveillance against the terrorists.

As MI5 reveals on its website: „The Services does use intrusive investigative methods, such as eavesdropping in a target’s home or vehicle. „However, our use of such methods is subject to a strict control and oversight regime. „To install an eavesdropping device in a target’s home we need to apply to the Secretary of State for a warrant under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to authorise the intrusion on the privacy of the target.“

It adds: „In most cases we must also apply for a ‚property warrant‘ under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 to authorise any interference with the target’s property necessary to install the device covertly.

„As with interception, we must convince the Secretary of State that what we are proposing to do is both necessary and proportionate.“

Strict application of the rules is crucial as evidence obtained using bugging devices planted in suspects homes can be used as evidence in court and is likely to be the key to the prosecution’s case against these men.

A senior Whitehall security source warned last night that the public should not be complacent despite MI5’s recent success. He said: „Until six weeks ago this plot was one of a dozen being prioritised by MI5. Intelligence received pushed this plot to the top of the list but the other dozen plots remain and are still being investigated. These are very worrying times.“

Investigators Tracing Terror Plot Money Trail
FOX News – Aug 11. Investigators on three continents worked to fill in the full, frightening picture Friday of a plot to blow U.S. jetliners out of the Atlantic skies, tracking the money trail and seizing more alleged conspirators in the teeming towns of eastern Pakistan.

One arrested there, a Briton named Rashid Rauf, is believed to have been the operational planner and to have connections with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistani and U.S. officials said. British and Pakistani authorities have arrested as many as 41 people in the two countries in connection with the alleged suicidal plan, broken up by British police this week, to detonate disguised liquid explosives aboard as many as 10 planes bound from Britain to the United States.

„The terrorists intended a second Sept. 11,“ said Frances Fragos Townsend, White House homeland security adviser.

New information underlined how close they were to mounting attacks. After the first arrests in Pakistan some days ago, word went from Pakistan to the London plotters to move ahead quickly, a message intercepted by an intelligence agency, a U.S. official disclosed on condition of anonymity. That prompted British police to move in on the conspirators, long under watch.

British Home Secretary John Reid told reporters officials were confident the main suspects in the plot were in custody. But authorities „would go where any further evidence takes us,“ he said.

„I think it’s pretty clear that in this case, we don’t have everybody,“ Townsend told The Associated Press in Washington. The British government released the names of 19 of the 24 arrested in Britain — many apparently British Muslims of Pakistani ancestry — and froze their assets. One of the 24 detainees later was freed.

The record of financial transactions, along with telephone and computer records, may help investigators trace more people in the alleged plot. „Think of it as a river — you look upstream to find the source, and downstream to find out where the money is going,“ said Cliff Knuckey, former chief money laundering investigator for Scotland Yard.

American authorities were looking for any U.S. links in the conspiracy. Hundreds of FBI agents checked possible leads the past few weeks, including what two U.S. counterterrorism officials said, on condition of anonymity, were calls the British suspects placed to several U.S. cities.

But the U.S. homeland security secretary said Friday nothing significant had emerged. „Currently, we do not have evidence that there was, as part of this plot, any plan to initiate activity inside the United States or that the plotting was done in the United States,“ Michael Chertoff said.

Britain kept its threat assessment level at „critical,“ indicative of an imminent attack. Extraordinary security measures continued at British airports, although the backlog of passengers eased from Thursday’s chaotic conditions, when hundreds of flights were canceled.

At Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, around 70 percent of flights operated Friday, but many people turned around and headed home after an announcement that a raft of flights had been canceled, including British Airways services to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

At U.S. airports, airlines were recruiting more baggage handlers as U.S. travelers — facing new rules banning almost all liquids from carry-on luggage — adapted by checking bags they normally would have carried aboard. American passengers faced a second level of security checks starting Friday, with random bag searches at boarding gates.

The alleged terrorists were planning to assemble their bombs aboard the aircraft, apparently with a peroxide-based solution disguised as beverages or other harmless-seeming items, and using such electronic equipment as a disposable camera or a music player as a detonator, two U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

A U.S. intelligence official said they planned to deploy a couple of attackers per plane, and the two dozen plotters didn’t all know one another — a typical security measure in terror groups.

London’s Evening Standard reported the plotters apparently chose next Wednesday as a target date, since they had tickets for a United Airlines flight that day, as well as ones for this Friday, apparently a test-run to see whether they could smuggle chemicals aboard in soft-drink containers.

The paper didn’t report the flight’s destination, but United has flights from Heathrow to New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

The British say their inquiry began months ago — prompted by a tip from within the British Muslim community after the bloody July 7, 2005, terror bombings of the London transit system, The Washington Post reported.There were signs preparations stepped up recently. One of the houses raided by British police this week had been bought last month by two men in an all-cash deal, in a neighborhood of $300,000 houses, neighbors reported.

Pakistani officials said British information led to the first arrests in Pakistan about a week ago, of two British nationals, including Rauf, called a „key person“ by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. Pakistan’s interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said Rauf has ties with al Qaeda and was apprehended in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. The Foreign Ministry in Islamabad spoke of „indications“ of a link between Rauf and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

On an unspecified date, Pakistani authorities also arrested five Pakistanis as alleged `facilitators“ for the Britons in the major cities of Lahore and Karachi. An intelligence official in Islamabad said 10 other Pakistanis had been arrested Friday in the district of Bhawalpur, about 300 miles south of Islamabad near the Indian border.

Pakistan is both a key U.S.-British ally in the antiterror campaign, and a hotbed of Islamic radicalism and likely hiding place for al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden. „I am 120 percent convinced there’s a link“ with Al Qaeda, Louis Caprioli, a former top French counterintelligence official, said of the trans-Atlantic bombing plot. „Was it Al Qaeda who contacted them, or vice versa? Only the investigation will be able to tell.“

Scotland Yard didn’t identify the lone detainee released Friday from among 24 arrested in London, its eastern suburb of High Wycombe and the central city of Birmingham. The 19 identified ranged in age from 17 to 35, had Muslim names and appeared to be of Pakistani descent, although many were born and all reared in Britain.

One not on the list of 19 names was believed to be a young woman in her 20s with a 6-month-old baby. At least three people among the suspects were converts to Islam. It was unclear how the alleged plotters met, or who the ringleader was, although suspicion fell on the only one identified who is over 30 — Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 35, of east London.

A teenage neighbor of suspect Assad Sarwar, 26, who lived with his parents in High Wycombe, said Sarwar had become increasingly strident after the London transit bombings, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 other people. „He started talking about terrorism and acting like it’s OK to blow up people,“ said Nawaz Chaudhry, 17.

At least one „martyrdom“ tape, the type left by suicide bombers, was found in the British raids, a U.S. law enforcement official said. Under Britain’s toughened antiterrorism laws, suspects can be held for up to 28 days without charge. On Friday, detention orders for 22 suspects were extended through Wednesday. The 23rd suspect, still in custody, will have a detention extension hearing Monday.

Airline Stocks
Strange airline stocks shorting activities in Europe ahead of terror plot discovery raise doubt about who knew what and when?
India Daily Aug 10. – The airlines stock indices all across the globe was showing technical reasons for a drop for the last few days. After the London discovery of the terror plot to blow US-UK bound airlines, it dipped heavily only to be bought.

According to Financial times, the UK was put on its highest state of alert on Thursday after British police said they had foiled a terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic passenger aircraft in mid-flight. The announcement followed a number of arrests overnight. It is believed that flights from the UK to the US were the principal target.

“Overnight the police, with the full knowledge of ministers, have carried out a major counter-terrorism operation to disrupt what we believe to be a major threat to UK and international partners,” said John Reid, home secretary, adding: “We think we have the main players in this conspiracy”.

The trading pattern of the Airline stocks before and after raised the first doubts about the terror plot discovery. The airlines stocks bounced back with the same money that was raised shorting these stocks yesterday and before.

The biggest question now is who were the people who shorted these airlines stocks before the terror plot discovery and why are they so sure to buy them back at a 10% or more discount today?

The London Terror Gang
The London Terror Gang III

Fair Use Notice: JNvH contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is being made available for purposes of education and research of the subscribers themselves. This constitutes a „fair use“ of such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

01► Financial Sanctions
02► Chemical Mix
03► Muslim Leaders Informed
04► Plot Echo’s Bojinka
05► Pakistani Intelligence Helped

FINANCIAL SANCTIONS: TERRORIST FINANCING

Aug 11 2006 – This news release is issued in respect of the financial measures taken against terrorism.

The Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty’s Treasury, has today directed that any funds held for or on behalf of the individuals named in the Annex to this News Release must be frozen, and that no funds should be made available, directly or indirectly to any person, except under the authority of a licence.

Financial institutions and other persons are requested to check whether they maintain any accounts or otherwise hold any funds, other financial assets, economic benefits and economic resources for the individuals named in the Annex and, if so, they should freeze the accounts or other funds and report their findings to the Bank of England.

The names in the Annex are in addition to those listed in previous Bank Notices containing directions under Article 4 of the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2001 (S.I. 2001/3365) and under Article 8 of the Al-Qa’ida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/111, as amended).

Previous Notices and news releases related to Terrorism, Al-Qa’ida and the Taliban and a consolidated list of individuals and entities subject to these and other UK financial sanctions regimes are available from the Financial Sanctions pages of the Bank of England’s website.

1. ALI, Abdula, Ahmed
DOB: 10/10/1980
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom
2. ALI, Cossor
DOB: 04/12/1982
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
3. ALI, Shazad, Khuram
DOB: 11/06/1979
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
4. HUSSAIN, Nabeel
DOB: 10/03/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E4
5. HUSSAIN, Tanvir
DOB: 21/02/1981
Address: Leyton, London, United Kingdom, E10
6. HUSSAIN, Umair
DOB: 09/10/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E14
7. ISLAM, Umar
DOB: 23/04/1978
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
8. KAYANI, Waseem
DOB: 28/04/1977
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
9. KHAN, Assan, Abdullah
DOB: 24/10/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
10. KHAN, Waheed, Arafat
DOB: 18/05/1981
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
11. KHATIB, Osman, Adam
DOB: 07/12/1986
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
12. PATEL, Abdul, Muneem
DOB: 17/04/1989
Address: London, United Kingdom, E5
13. RAUF, Tayib
DOB: 26/04/1984
Address: Birmingham, United Kingdom
14. SADDIQUE, Muhammed, Usman
DOB: 23/04/1982
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
15. SARWAR, Assad
DOB: 24/05/1980
Address: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
16. SAVANT, Ibrahim
DOB: 19/12/1980
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17
17. TARIQ, Amin, Asmin
DOB: 07/06/1983
Address: Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom, E17
18. UDDIN, Shamin, Mohammed
DOB: 22/11/1970
Address: Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom
19. ZAMAN, Waheed
DOB: 27/05/1984
Address: London, United Kingdom, E17

CHEMICAL MIX COULD CREATE DEADLY FLIGHT BLAST
► Timesonline
Aug 10 2006 – The most effective way of smuggling explosive liquids onto a commercial airliner without detection would be to use two stable fluids that can be mixed together in a toilet cubicle to make a bomb, chemists said yesterday.

While most conventional liquid explosives are too unstable or easily detected to be suitable, several fluids that are not themselves explosive can be readily combined to trigger a blast.

A prime candidate for this would be triacetone triperoxide (TATP), the explosive used by the July 7 bombers. Its two raw ingredients are both liquids, which could be carried on board in in containers such as bottles of soft drinks or contact lens solution. A small detonator could be hidden in an i-pod or mobile phone, drawing power from its battery.

The two chemicals would be mixed to make TATP, which is a crystalline white powder. Normally, this has to be done at low temperatures to make the explosive more stable, but this would not necessarily be an issue if the aim was to ignite it immediately.

A problem is that the solid has to be dried before it becomes a reliable explosive, and it can be difficult to detonate, as attested by the failure of the attempted suicide attacks on London on July 21 last year. Some formulations, however, would be relatively easy to set off with a simple detonator, or even with a match or lighter.

Andrea Sella, senior lecturer in chemistry at University College London, said: „It would be difficult, but I could certainly conceive of these people taking individual compounds, and mixing them together in the loos. These people are so motivated that they might be nuts enough to set up a chemistry lab in the toilets.
„TATP is something I imagine might be possible to make on an aircraft. You need two lots of liquid, and though these are pretty runny and you’d have to disguise them, it could be possible. Contact lens solution is runny. You then get a solid material that is explosive.“

Ehud Keinan of the Technion Institute in Israel, a leading authority on terrorist explosives, said: „It is clear to me that the ‚liquid chemical‘ device is an improvised explosive device (IED), simply because all conventional explosives are solids.

„There are a number of ways to make liquid explosives. My guess is that the terrorists have chosen the most dangerous one, the peroxide-based family of improvised explosive such as used in the London bombings last year.

„First, it is very easy to initiate such explosives – there is no need for a detonator and a booster, a burning cigarette or a match would be sufficient to set them off. Second, the raw materials needed for their preparation are readily available in unlimited quantities in hardware stores, pharmacies, agricultural supplies, and even supermarkets. Third, quite sadly, most airports are not yet equipped with the appropriate means to detect those explosives. Practically speaking, there is no efficient way to stop a suicide bomber who carries peroxide-base explosives on his body or in his carry-on luggage.“

The practical difficulty of assembling and then detonating such a bomb on an aircraft mean that many attempts would be likely to fail. „I do wonder how easy it would be to do in practice,“ Dr Sella said. How someone gets up and goes to the loos, with other passengers banging on the door, and does everything right. There would be no guarantee it would work.“

This may explain why so many planes appear to have been targeted, to raise the odds of at least one or two successful attacks. Several commercially available explosives also work on the principle of combining two liquids to ignite a blast. Some liquid explosives would also be powerful enough to bring down an airliner, but most are too unstable and easily detected to readily evade security checks.

Most liquid explosives, such as nitrogylcerin, are nitrogen-based, and are relatively unstable. This makes their use practically difficult, as they are liable to go off prematurely. The class is also reasonably easy to detect with a technique known as neutron activation analysis, though this is not generally used to screen hand luggage.

Nitroglycerin can be stabilised by combining it with other materials to make a gel, such as nitrocellulose. It would need a larger detonator, which would add to the risk of detection.There is a precedent for terrorist use of nitrocellulose: it was found in dolls‘ clothes in the possession of Ramzi Yousef, one of the masterminds of the 1995 Bojinka plot to blow up aircraft over the Pacific Ocean. While it would be difficult to blow a plane up completely from within with a small, liquid-based bomb, it could be done by concentrating on weak points such as windows, or by combining several bombs on the same aircraft.

Professor Peter Zimmerman of King’s College, London, said: „Many kinds of explosive can be used to destroy an airplane in flight, because the air pressure in the cabin will add to the destructive power of the explosive. An airliner is a very fast-flying big balloon, and – speaking very figuratively – if the cabin is ruptured and the fuselage skin torn by an explosion at cruising altitude, the aerodynamic force on the rip and the air trying to escape the cabin can greatly multiply the destructive power of a bomb.“

If positioned correctly by someone with knowledge of aircraft operating systems, a small device could also sever hydraulic control cables with catastrophic consequences. „You wouldn’t get the spectacular effect of the plane falling apart in the sky, but if it becomes uncontrollable it is going to end up in the sea five minutes later,“ Dr Sella said.

MUSLIM LEADERS INFORMED, BUT WARY, OF ANTI-TERROR RAID
► Timesonline
Aug 10 2006 – Muslim community leaders were contacted by the police and Government officials early this morning as the first statements were released to the press. Khurshid Ahmed, leader of the British Muslim Forum was rung by a chief superintendent from the Metropolitan Police and a senior official from the Department for Communities and Local Government just before 7am to be told the arrests had taken place.

The police also contacted Dr Muhammed Abdul Bari, General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, at 6.54am. He was told that a number of arrests had taken place „for the public’s safety“ but given few details.

Mr Ahmed said that he felt the operation had been handled well but he warned that if the police failed to find any evidence to incriminate the people concerned then relations between the government and the Muslim community would deteriorate further.

„I was woken up by the police who said there was a threat to blow up a plane and that a number of arrests had been made,“ he said. „Since then I have been in contact with people from the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to find out what has been happening.“

Mr Ahmed said he had spent the morning contacting local authorities, police authorities and Muslim community groups to ensure there was no „backlash“ when further information was released about the identity of those arrested. He had already spoken to leaders in Bradford, London and the Midlands.
„As events unfold we will have to be prepared for how to deal with this. At the moment it is being handled very efficiently and competently.“

But he admitted that it was very difficult to know whether there had been an overreaction, until further details emerged: „I have no information about that whatsoever.“ He said that if the arrests turned out to have been based on faulty intelligence, as happened after the arrests and shooting at Forest Gate, the community would react badly.

„It would be very unfortunate. It would further cloud relations between the Government and the Muslim Community and would reinforce the perception people have got that the police are targeting the Muslim community. I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen and we do find there is substance in the allegations.“
The Muslim Council of Britain said the police had gone out of their way to ensure that the arrests were low key and had not attracted undue attention.

But Labour MP Mohammed Sarwar said parliament should now be recalled. He has already demanded that Parliament should debate the crisis in Lebanon, but said today’s events made this more urgent. „I think it’s imperative that we discuss national disasters and international disasters in the parliament,“ the MP for Glasgow Central said.

„The people in this country expect the members of parliament, at a time of crisis, to take the lead.“ Ali Miraj, member of the Conservative’s policy commission on international and national security said he would personally support the police action to ensure public safety. But he said that the mood amongst the Muslim community at present was very antagonistic. He also said current events in the Middle East would only encourage radicalism among disaffected young Muslims.

„I just hope they find some stuff on these guys. If they don’t they will seriously dent confidence with the Muslim community in future. Otherwise people will think they are crying wolf and it’s a Forest Gate Mark II. If they find nothing when they raid these people then there will be a real fear the police are deliberately targeting our people.

„The botched terror raid at Forest Gate, East London, in June was regarded as a very disproportionate response. Two hundred police uncovered nothing and the community was unfairly targeted,“ he said.

Mr Miraj said there was huge anger amongst the grass roots and he was not surprised that some were prepared to take drastic action. Many would not help the police with information about suspicious behaviour, he said. „One Muslim said to me recently outside a mosque: ‚What is grassing on our Muslim brothers going to achieve?'“

Fahad Ansari of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said that many Muslims would be sceptical about the police statement. High profile arrests in the past,including Forest Gate had failed to produce any evidence of terrorist activity. „I think you will get cynicism from the community,“ he said.

„Over the last few years we have seen many high profile raids like this plastered over the press to terrify the public. „We have seen it time and time again. It has been hit and miss on too many occasions. It is causing a lot of mass hysteria.“He suggested that the raids could even have been timed to distract attention from the criticisms of the Government’s stance on the Lebanon crisis.
„There has been so much pressure on the Government, it could be a way of diverting attention away from its policy on the Middle East,“ he said.

He accused Tony Blair of being in a „persistent state of denial“ on the impact Britain’s foreign policy – from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Middle East – was having on Muslims in Britain. „He has to realise that there was a relationship between 7/7 and British foreign policy,“ he said. Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood appealed to local communities to help provide as much extra information as possible to help the police thwart the terrorists.

He said he believed the arrests were based on „fairly good intelligence“ and would not prove unfounded and increase tensions fuelled by recent events in Forest Gate.Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, warned against any attempt to blame the Muslim community at large. „Only a united London can help defeat terrorism, which means that all London’s communities have their part to play,“ he said. „No community in London can or should be targeted or blamed because of the actions of people who are pure criminals.“

PLOT ECHOES ONE PLANNED BY 9/11 MASTERMIND IN ’94 – BOJINKA
► NY Times / by Raymond Bonner
Aug 10 2006 – The plot to blow up several airliners over the Atlantic, uncovered by British authorities, bears a striking resemblance to a plot hatched by Al Qaeda operatives 12 years ago to simultaneously blow up airliners over the Pacific.

That plot was hatched in Manila by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was starting his climb to be a top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, and by Ramzi Yousef, who was the mastermind of the first bomb attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. It was financed by bin Laden.

Mr. Mohammed gave the operation the codename „Bojinka,“ which was widely reported to have been adopted from Serbo-Croatian, and to mean „big bang.“ But Mr. Mohammed has told Central Intelligence Agency interrogators that it was just a „nonsense word“ he chose after hearing it on the front lines in Afghanistan, where he was fighting with Muslim rebels against Russia, according to „The 9/11 Commission Report.“ Mr. Mohammed was seized in Pakistan in 2003, and is now being held by the C.I.A. at an undisclosed location.

The Bojinka plot was anything but nonsense. At an apartment in Manila, Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Yousef began mixing chemicals, which they planned to put into containers that would be carried on board the airliners, as the London plotters are said to have been planning to do. In those days, it would have been relatively easy to get liquid explosives past a checkpoint. Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Yousef studied airline schedules and planned to sneak the liquid onto a dozen planes headed to Seoul and Hong Kong, and then on to the United States.

The plot was foiled in early 1995, when a fire broke out in the apartment where some of the plotters were working. Among the things found when the police investigated was Mr. Yousef’s laptop computer, containing a file called Bojinka. The police also found dolls wearing clothes containing nitrocellulose, according to the 9/11 report.

Mr. Yousef also was later captured in Pakistan, turned over to the United States, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Mr. Mohammed has told interrogators that after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which involved explosives in a truck and which failed to bring down the building, he „needed to graduate to a more novel form of attack,“ according to the 9/11 report. That led to Bojinka, and the first thoughts about using planes to bomb the World Trade Center.

PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE HELPED FOIL BOMBING PLOT
Times / by Zahid Hussain and Steve Bird
Aug 10 2006 – Pakistani intelligence agencies helped the British authorities foil the terror plot to blow up aircraft travelling between Britain and America, highly placed sources in Pakistan said today.

The agencies have been working closely with British anti-terror police in monitoring the activities of the suspected terrorists for some time, many of whom have links with Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups, The Times has learnt.

Today Pakistani security forces put Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, leader of the outlawed Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, (LeT) under house arrest. The largest of the separatist groups fighting the Indian forces in Kashmir, the LeT has also been blamed by Indian authorities for last month’s train bombings in Bombay which killed more than 200 people. Throughout the night and early morning police carried out a series of raids in London, Buckinghamshire and Birmingham, arresting 21 people.

One of the properties was in Walthamstow, north east London. At 10.30pm last night around twenty officers burst into a rundown three storey building that is believed to contain three flats. John Weir, 50, who lives opposite the terraced house said plain clothed officers in unmarked cars silently lined up opposite the house before the raid at about 10.30pm.

He said: „About 11.50pm two vans came up the road and parked at either end of the street. Then about 20 officers, four of them were in uniform, ran up and bashed the door in.

„None of them had weapons on them although they weren’t local police. I know that because our local police station is just up the road and it wasn’t the officers from there. They did everything very quietly.“

Mr Weir said officers headed upstairs to a first floor flat, which they proceeded to search by torchlight.

He said: „The only light they turned on were the ones just inside the front door. When they went upstairs they didn’t turn any lights on and you could see the torches flashing as they started their search. They were swarming all over the place. „There must have been forensic officers there because I saw them taking tool boxes and lots of equipment in.“

However, Mr Weir said he did not see police take anyone out of the house or remove any property.

He said the flat involved had been sold about a month ago.

„It was sold overnight. One day it was up for sale and the next it was gone. I think two men moved in the following weekend. No furniture was moved or anything, it was really strange.“

Mr Weir said he believed two north African men had been living in the flat for about a month.

He said: „They were in their mid-thirties. They were dressed quite normally in T-shirts and trousers. I haven’t seen them in the last couple of weeks. There is not often anyone there at that house.“ Mr Weir said he originally thought police were carrying out a drugs raid as the property had been searched for cannabis about three years ago.

This afternoon uniformed police officers were still guarding the front and back entrances to the property.

Damage to the front door where police had rammed it open could be clearly seen.

In Buckinghamshire police swooped on three homes in a quiet residential area of High Wycombe early this morning. Two of the addresses in High Wycombe are within a quarter of a mile of each other. At one house police have extended their cordon, keeping everyone well away from the premise.

Residents woke to find dozens of officers swarming outside their houses. One man woke to find police had sealed off one of his neighbours‘ homes. He said: „We’ve got loads of police over the road. My wife was going out to work and she said: ‚There’s loads of police out there.‘ They’ve sealed off the house.“

He said he believed the occupants of the house were off Asian or Middle Eastern origin.

Another house in High Wycombe was today being guarded by officers.

The house was believed to be occupied by a Mohammed Farwar. A neighbour said police had been at the property „for most of the night“. She said: „This is a very quiet road, nothing happens here. The police won’t tell us what has happened inside the house. „A foreign family has lived their for about ten years and they have never caused any bother. They’ve got five grown-up children. They keep themselves to themselves-We don’t really converse with them because they don’t speak much English.“

The London Terror Gang II

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Washington (AFP) – Unter den fünf noch flüchtigen Verdächtigen der in Großbritannien vereitelten Serie von Anschlägen auf Passagierflugzeuge ist angeblich auch der Kopf der Gruppe. Der 29-jährige mutmaßliche Anführer Matiur Rehman habe fünf Jahre nach den Anschlägen vom 11. September einen „spektakulären Anschlag“ geplant, berichtete der US-Fernsehsender ABC unter Berufung auf pakistanische Ermittler. Nach Angaben britischer und amerikanischer Behörden wollten die Täter im Handgepäck Sprengstoff an Bord mehrerer Transatlantik-Flüge schmuggeln und zeitgleich in der Luft zur Explosion bringen.

Nach den fünf Verdächtigen werde fieberhaft gesucht, berichtete ABC. Die britische Polizei nahm nach eigenen Angaben 24 Verdächtige im Zusammenhang mit den Anschlagsplänen fest. Laut ABC handelte es sich dabei um 22 Pakistaner, einen Bangladescher und einen Iraner. Dem Sender zufolge sollen zwei der Verdächtigen bereits Bekennervideos vorbereitet haben. Die Londoner Polizei sprach am Donnerstag von einem geplanten „Massenmord unvorstellbaren Ausmaßes“.

Der bisherige Ermittlungsstand weise auf eine Täterschaft des Terrornetzwerks El Kaida hin, sagten US-Heimatschutzminister Michael Chertoff und FBI-Chef Robert Mueller. Laut Chertoff wollten die Attentäter verschiedene Bestandteile von Flüssigsprengstoff in Getränkepackungen und ähnlichem an Bord schmuggeln und dort zünden. Nach US-Gehemdienstangaben hatten die Täter Flüge im Visier, die von Großbritannien aus zu „wichtigen Urlaubszielen“ in den USA gehen, wie New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Boston und Chicago. Namentlich genannt wurden die US-Gesellschaften United Airlines, American Airlines und Continental Airlines. US-Präsident George W. Bush sieht „islamische Faschisten“ als Drahtzieher.

In Abstimmung mit den britischen und US-Behörden gab es auch in Pakistan mehrere Festnahmen. Diese hätten bei der Aufdeckung und Vereitelung der Anschlagspläne eine Schlüsselrolle gespielt, sagte eine Sprecherin des Außenministeriums in Islamabad.

US-Präsident Bush kündigte an, seinen Kurs der Terrorbekämpfung mit aller Härte fortzusetzen. Er lobte die Arbeit der britischen Ermittler, die die Anschlagsserie vereitelt haben. In Großbritannien trat die höchste Sicherheitsstufe in Kraft. Die USA erhöhten ihre Terrorwarnung für Überseeflüge von britischen Flughäfen auf die höchste Stufe: „Rot“ bedeutet, dass ein Anschlag als sehr wahrscheinlich gilt. Auch Deutschland reagierte mit erhöhten Sicherheitsvorkehrungen.