2006 transatlantic aircraft plot

The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British Metropolitan Police during an extensive surveillance operation. As a result of the plot, unprecedented security measures were initially implemented at airports. The measures were gradually relaxed during the following weeks, but passengers are still not allowed to carry liquid containers larger than 100 ml onto commercial aircraft in their hand luggage in the UK and most other countries, .

Of 24 suspects who were arrested in and around London on the night of 9 August 2006, eight were tried initially for terrorism offences associated with the plot. The first trial occurred from April to September 2008. The jury failed to reach a verdict on charges of conspiracy to kill by blowing up aircraft but did find three men guilty of conspiracy to murder and acquitted one other of all charges. During September 2009, a second trial (of the now seven originally accused but with the addition of another man) found three men guilty of conspiracy to kill by blowing up aircraft and one other guilty of conspiracy to murder, while the 'additional' man was exonerated of all terrorism charges.

During July 2010, a further three of the accused were found guilty at a third trial at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder. Thus, of the nine men tried, two were acquitted and seven found guilty of conspiracy charges.

Surveillance

In Pakistan, a British man from Birmingham named Rashid Rauf is believed to have put plotters in touch with al-Qaeda's leadership. When Abdulla Ahmed Ali, who was being surveilled by police, returned from Pakistan in June 2006, investigators covertly opened his baggage. Inside they found a powdered soft drink— Tang—and a large number of batteries, which raised suspicions; in the following weeks the police mounted the UK's largest surveillance operation, calling on an additional 220 officers from other forces.

Assad Sarwar (from High Wycombe) was seen buying items that did not seem consistent with his daily needs. On one occasion surveillance officers watched him dispose of empty hydrogen peroxide bottles at a recycling centre. Sarwar and Ali were seen meeting in an east London park. When MI5 covertly entered a flat being used by Ali, they found what appeared to be a bomb factory. They installed a camera and microphone and on 3 August, Ali and Tanvir Husain were filmed constructing devices out of drink bottles. Surveillance officers later watched Ali spend two hours in an Internet cafe researching flight timetables.

Arrests

On 9 August 2006, British police arrested 24 people for questioning. The arrests were made in London, Birmingham, and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in an overnight operation. Two of the arrests were made in the Birmingham area and five were made in High Wycombe; firearms officers were not involved in the arrests. The key suspects were British-born Muslims, some of Pakistani descent. Three of the suspects were recent converts to Islam.

Eight of the suspects were later charged with conspiracy to murder and commit acts of terrorism, a further three with failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism, and one youth with possession of articles related to a terrorist act. Others were released without charge.

Police said they had been observing the plot evolve for months, and that the "investigation reached a critical point" on the night of 9 August 2006 when the decision was made to take urgent action in order to disrupt possible execution of the plot. An undercover British agent had infiltrated the group, according to CNN sources. According to Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom & Security, "the plotters received a very short message to 'Go now' ", while British officials denied any explicit message existed. However, it was not clear when the attacks were planned to have been begun, and the ''New York Times'' has since reported that the plans were at an earlier stage than had been stated initially.

British authorities performed a total of 69 searches of residences, businesses, vehicles and open spaces, which found possible bomb-making equipment and chemicals including hydrogen peroxide, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said on 21 August 2006. "As well as the bomb-making equipment, we have found more than 400 computers, 200 mobile telephones and 8,000 items of removable storage media such as Memory Sticks, CDs and DVDs," he said. "So far, from the computers alone, we have removed some 6 terabytes of data." It will take "many months" for investigators to analyse all of the data, he said. Police said they found a list of flights on a memory stick belonging to Mr. Ali after his arrest. The memory stick listed scheduled flights from three carriers – American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada.

Disagreement over when to make the arrests

NBC News reported disagreement between the United States and the United Kingdom over when to make the arrests. According to NBC News, a senior British official contended that an attack was not imminent, noting that the suspects had not yet purchased airline tickets and some did not even have passports; he had urged that the investigation continue to collect more evidence.

The same source also told NBC News that the United States had threatened to use extraordinary rendition on suspected ringleader Rashid Rauf in Pakistan, or to pressure the Pakistan government to arrest him. A United States official acknowledged disagreement over the timing of arrests and that British officials had believed that an attack was not imminent. However, Frances Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, denied the report of a dispute: "There was no disagreement between US and UK officials."

In Ron Suskind's book ''The Way of the World'' (2008), Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have "ordered" the arrest of Rauf in Pakistan in August 2006, as an attempt to provide "good news" prior to the US 2006 mid-term elections.Simon Jenkins, ''The Guardian'', 8 September 2009
This trial tells us it's policing, not war, that stops terrorists

Terrorist plot

The plotters planned to use peroxide-based liquid explosives; the Metropolitan Police said that the plot involved acetone peroxide, (TATP), which is sensitive to heat, shock, and friction, and can be initiated with fire or an electrical charge, and can also be used to produce improvised detonators.

During the trial of the conspirators, the prosecution stated that each bomber would board a plane with the "necessary ingredients and equipment". They would then construct the devices mid-flight and detonate them. The hydrogen peroxide would be placed in 500 ml plastic bottles of the Oasis

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