Virgin Calls for Luggage Revie Was CPS Considers Air Terror Retrial

By Sam Marsden; Steffan Rhys

VIRGIN ATLANTIC last night called for a review of restrictions on aircraft hand luggage, including rules on carrying liquids.

The call came as prosecutors were expected to decide within days whether to order a retrial of seven men accused of plotting mass murder on board transatlantic aircraft.

Meanwhile, counter-terrorism experts were last night debating why the Crown failed to persuade a jury that the defendants intended a wave of suicide bombings on flights from Heathrow Airport to North America.

Three of the defendants – Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27 – are facing lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of conspiracy to murder at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday.

But jurors could not agree verdicts on whether another four Muslim men-Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Stoke Newington, north London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, east London; Waheed Zaman, 24, of Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, 30, of Plaistow, east London – were also involved in the plot.

The Crown Prosecution Service has until the end of the month to rulewhether anyor all of the seven should face a retrial.

Ali, of Walthamstow; Sarwar, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; and Hussain, of Leyton, east London, had already admitted planning a series of small-scale headline-grabbing bomb attacks.

Andall seven defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause a public nuisance by distributing al Qaeda-style videos threatening suicide attacks in Britain.

An eighth man, Mohammed Gulzar, 27, of Barking, east London, was cleared of all charges.

Some experts suggested the arrest of a suspect in Pakistan – reportedly at the request of US agencies – forced the British authorities to move sooner than they wanted, preventing them from gathering stronger evidence-such as air tickets – that the men were planning to get on board flights carrying home-made bombs disguised as soft drinks.

The Government has ruled that restrictions on carrying liquids and gels in hand luggage on flights must continue despite the inconclusive verdicts.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “The court case has proven that a generic capability exists to create liquid bombs from domestic items.

“Aircraft could be vulnerable to such devices so we are right to continue to require restrictions for liquids carried as hand luggage.

“We are also right to require these restrictions internationally as, potentially, we are all at risk.

“Meanwhile, we continue to work with international colleagues to develop technological detection methods which could ease the restrictions.”

But Virgin director of communications Paul Charles said people were confused by different restrictions in different airports, saying: “Maybe now is the time for a review to take a look at how appropriate the current rules are for taking liquids on board an aircraft.

“Certainly it’s important to have restrictions in place when the country is on the highest state of alert. There are different rules at different airports aroundthe world, so it would make more sense to review all of these to make sure there’s continuity worldwide.”

The sweeping airport restrictions on liquids in hand luggage were brought in following the arrests in August 2006 of the group of men who could now face a retrial. The restrictions led to chaotic scenes at airports, with travellers having to queue for hours.

Some of the rules imposed then remain the same, including no liquid in containers larger than 100ml.

But Peter Clarke, who was the head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command at the time the plot allegations surfaced, said restrictions onpassengers carrying liquids on flights must remain.

“This means of detonation is still in the hands of the terrorists, and so to wind back security, to think of going back to a position where the terrorists could defeat airport security, seems to me foolhardy,” he said.

(c) 2008 Western Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.