Britain reduces threat level
LONDON – Britain lowered its terrorist threat level a notch Monday, a relief for weary travelers who have endured days of chaos at the nation’s main airports since security forces foiled an alleged plot to blow passenger planes out of the sky.
Attention focused on the role a Pakistani charity might have played in financing the terrorism scheme, allegedly with money that was meant to go to earthquake relief. Meanwhile, a court in London granted the government more time to interrogate the last of 23 people it is holding in connection with the plot.
The decision to drop the terrorism threat level to severe – where it was at before the jetliner scheme was intercepted – means passengers will be allowed a single, briefcase-size bag aboard aircraft, and books, laptop computers and digital music players will also be permitted again.
Heathrow and other major London airports said they would not be able to implement all of the relaxed rules until today, but the scene at London airports was clearly improving during a drizzly, overcast Monday.
The British Airports Association said it was searching only half of passengers at Heathrow, greatly speeding up the flow. British Airways, the dominant carrier at the airport, canceled about one-fifth of its flights Monday, down from one in three canceled the day before.
Home Secretary John Reid cautioned that the easing of security measures and the lowering of the terrorism threat level did not mean that Britain was out of danger. “There is still a very serious threat of an attack,” he said at an early morning news conference. “The threat level is at severe, indicating the high likelihood of an attempted terrorist attack at some stage, and I urge the public to remain vigilant.”
London’s anti-terrorist police pressed ahead with a search in a woodland area in High Wycombe, a neighborhood about 35 miles west of London where many of the arrests were made. The search will continue at least until today, a police official said.
Pakistani authorities are holding 17 people – including a British citizen, Rashid Rauf, who they say has al-Qaida connections and was a key player in the plot. At least one of Rauf’s brothers was arrested in Birmingham during a counterterrorism sweep there.
The British High Commission in Islamabad said Monday it has not received confirmation that Pakistan is holding any British citizens, despite a written request for information.
Aidan Liddle, a spokesman for the High Commission, said the two countries are cooperating in the terrorism investigation.
The New York Times reported that money raised for victims of the earthquake was channeled to the plotters through the Pakistani-based charity Jamaat al-Dawat – a charge the charity denied.