UK: Three charged over terror plot
Sunday, November 17, 2002 Posted: 3:59 AM EST (0859 GMT)
Around 3 million people a day use London's 'tube' -- the world's oldest undergound mass-transit system
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Three men have been charged with plotting to carry out a terror attack which police sources say included London's Underground rail network.
Scotland Yard police have refused to officially comment on claims in the Sunday Times newspaper that the planned attack involved releasing cyanide gas on a crowded carriage on the system, known as 'The Tube'.
CNN's Jim Boulden said: "The arrests have come after several months of investigations by British police.
"The men are believed to be north Africans and are due in court on Monday after being remanded in custody by magistrates earlier this week, charged under the Terrorism Act 2000."
Rabah Chekat-Bais, 21, Rabah Kadris, in his mid 30s, and Karim Kadouri, 33, all of no fixed abode, have been charged with possessing articles for preparing and carrying out acts of terrorism, the Press Association reported.
Unemployed Chekat-Bais appeared before Bow Street Magistrates Court, in central London, on Monday and Kadris and Kadouri, also both unemployed, appeared in court on Tuesday.
News of the charges came after Prime Minister Tony Blair said that security services were warning on an almost daily basis of terrorist threats to a wide range of targets in the UK. (Full story)
But he said that if he had acted on every piece of raw intelligence during his time as premier, he would have shut down roads, rail links, airports, stations, shopping centres, factories and military installations "on many occasions".
Earlier this month, Interpol Secretary Ronald Noble warned that al Qaeda operatives were preparing simultaneous attacks in several countries. (Full story)
The Sunday Times report said that a group of north African men had been arrested on Saturday November 9 by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch in connection with the plot.
It said officers raided several addresses in north London, taking away items during searches.
Sunday Times assistant editor Nicholas Rufford told Sky News: "There were six arrests originally, three people were released, only three were charged.
"My understanding is that no chemical or bomb-making equipment was recovered. So that suggests that the equipment or the materials may still be out there and as far as I understand the investigation is continuing.
"The plan I believe was to bring the ingredients of a gas bomb into the country. As far as I know, as far as I understand, the materials never arrived.
"Certainly if they did arrive they haven't yet been found or intercepted."
Tokyo subway attack recalled
Government sources insisted the case had nothing to do with Blair's warning, in his speech to the Lord Mayor's banquet.
Nor, the sources added, was the case connected to Home Secretary David Blunkett's Home Office warning that al Qaeda might be ready to use "a so-called dirty bomb, or some kind of poison gas."
Seven years ago a sarin nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway killed 12 people and injured 5,000 others.
The attack by a Japanese religious cult, Aum Shinrikyo, focused world attention on the threat from chemical and biological weapons.
They left small perforated bags of sarin in subway terminals so that the gas would seep out and spread slowly in the confined spaces of Tokyo's underground during the rush hour.
A spokeswoman from London Underground would not comment on the Sunday Times report but appealed to passengers to be vigilant.
She said: "Over the past 30 years we have been exposed, like the rest of London, to the threats of terrorism.
"We take security advice from the police and the Home Office and all our staff are well trained to look out for the unusual."
Cyanide can cause death or make people suddenly lose consciousness if it is inhaled or swallowed.
Exposure to high levels of cyanide as a gas, liquid or white powder can cause irritation of the skin, headaches, dizziness, loss of coordination, nausea, vomiting, gasping, increased blood pressure, loss of consciousness and death.
Most people cannot smell cyanide until levels become dangerous, then it can smell like bitter almonds.
Even several years after exposure to low levels of cyanide it is possible to experience birth defects and nerve damage affecting hearing, vision, and muscle coordination.
Doctors can test urine for "thiocyanate" shortly after exposure to cyanide.
Cyanide gas can be found in industrial emissions and car exhaust, cigarette smoke and certain papers and plastics as they burn. It is used in metal cleaning operations, and as an industrial bug killer.
London's "Tube" is the world's oldest underground mass-transit system, according to the company's Web site. Its first line opened in 1863.
It has grown into a network of 275 stations connected by 400 kilometres (250 miles) of railway that carries about three million passengers each day, the site said. |
