Washington – Five British- born Muslim extremists believed to be part of the deadliest threat against America since Sept. 11, 2001, were still eluding a massive police dragnet late Thursday, spurring concerns that a possible “Plan B” could be set in motion.
Although authorities said they had “significantly” disrupted the plot, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said: “We cannot assume that the threat has been completely thwarted or that we have fully identified and neutralized every member of this terrorist network.”
The terrorists were believed to be 48 hours away from testing their plot to use drinking bottles filled with liquid explosives and simple electronic devices – possibly iPods or cellphones – to set off charges that would have sent hundreds, and possibly thousands, of airline passengers to a watery death in the Atlantic Ocean, Homeland Security officials said.
The impending dry run – and the discovery of two tapes in which the would-be suicide bombers talk about “dying for Allah” – were the triggers that led British authorities to swoop down Wednesday night and arrest 24 men for plotting to blow up as many as 10 commercial airliners bound from Britain to the United States, said U.S. Homeland Security sources.
The Times of London also reported that substantial sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to two of the alleged ringleaders so that they could purchase airline tickets.
“They often do dry runs,” said President Bush’s homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, although she would not confirm the 48-hour timetable. As for the timing of the attack, Townsend said, “We know it was imminent. Do we know the exact day? We’re not prepared to say that, but we feel confident that this was closer to getting to the execution phase, where they would pull off the attack, closer to that point every day.”
Many analysts described the plot as “The Big One” – the spectacular attack that many had theorized al-Qaeda had been gearing up for over the past five years, that would either match or surpass the Sept. 11 attacks in impact.
“If they were waiting to do The Big One, then this would qualify,” said Steven Simon, author of “The Next Attack” and a Middle East analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You’re talking 747s that carry 400 people each. Ten of them are 4,000 people. They’re all going to be killed in action. And that gets you to the casualty figures in the World Trade Center or higher.”
Bush called the foiled plot a “stark reminder” of the continued threat to the United States from extremist Muslims.
British authorities indicated that those arrested had been under surveillance for as long as 12 months. Most were British residents of Pakistani descent.
Some had been under investigation before for extremist activity, and they included a young Muslim convert and a teenager, according to the Times of London.
Thursday night, British Chancellor Gordon Brown froze the assets of 19 men arrested in the raids.
British officials raised security alerts to “critical” Wednesday night, suggesting a terrorist attack could be imminent, and sending the global aviation system into chaos.
