Irish Examiner
16/08/2006
Top Pakistani intelligence agents said today the alleged terror suspects arrested last week over an alleged plot to blow up a number of planes crossing the Atlantic did not have had the experience to carry out the attack.
But the two senior agents said that if the alleged terror cell members arrested in Pakistan and Britain last week had undergone appropriate weapons and explosives training, they could have emulated massive attacks like those five years ago in New York and Washington as well as the July 7, 2005, London commuter system bombings.
As many as 17 people have been arrested in Pakistan, including alleged ringleader Rashid Rauf, while another 24 have been detained in Britain. British national Rauf’s 22-year-old brother, Tayib, is among those in British custody. Those detained in Britain whose assets were frozen range in age from 17-35.
In London, British investigators were to explain to a judge in a closed-door hearing today why suspects arrested in a foiled plot to blow up as many as 10 trans-Atlantic airliners should be kept in custody without charge.
Under new terrorism laws, the suspects in Britain can be held for up to 28 days as investigators prepare charges. Home Secretary John Reid said some suspects would likely not be charged with major offences.
The suspects arrested in Pakistan and Britain were not “experienced” and “trained” like al Qaida operatives who had carried out the September 11 attacks and last year’s London bombings, but were “filled with hate” for Britain and the United States, one of the intelligence officials said.
“I don’t know how close they were from executing the attacks, but I personally believe that they wanted to do it to mark the (5th anniversary of) 9/11 attacks,” the official said. “I personally think they would have carried out the attacks if they had been experienced enough.”
The detainees in Britain and Pakistan had not attended terror-training camps in Pakistan or neighbouring Afghanistan and had relied on information gleaned from text books on how to make bombs, the officials said.
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