Baby Bomb
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:12 pm
Bottle and baby used as bomb
By Fiona Hudson
August 14, 2006 12:00
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A HUSBAND and wife arrested in the British terror raids allegedly planned to take their six-month-old baby on a mid-air suicide mission.
Scotland Yard police are quizzing Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25, and his 23-year-old wife Cossor over suspicions they were to use their baby's bottle to hide a liquid bomb.
The theory is one of the reasons security chiefs are now insisting mothers taste babies' milk at check-in desks before allowing them to take bottles aboard flights.
The pair are among up to 23 suspects being questioned over a plot to bring down nine airliners over five US cities, killing thousands of people in the air and on the ground.
The questioning of the group comes as British Government sources yesterday revealed many of those suspects posed as relief workers to travel to al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan.
It has also been revealed that security services are secretly monitoring "dozens" of fresh plots involving hundreds of suspects which could be unleashed at any time.
One government source said at least 30 priority cases were under urgent investigation.
" All those 30 are seen as serious, determined attacks that will happen unless we stop them," the source said.
Police spent yesterday combing through the Alis' east London housing commission flat for clues.
Cossor took her baby with her to the police station during last week's raids but her son is now being cared for by grandparents.
Cossor's grandfather, Nazir Ahmed, 84, said Abdula had travelled to Pakistan about four weeks ago.
"We didn't understand what the hurry was and why he needed to go," Mr Ahmed said.
A neighbour at the flats where the married couple lived said he would be stunned if claims were true.
"I simply cannot believe he could have been involved in a plot like this. He is religious and seemed to love his family," the neighbour said.
"I would never have dreamed he could have been involved in anything like this."
A family friend of Cossor said she had known the arrested mother 12 years and believed her to be innocent.
"I think it is a case of mistaken identity. The last thing she'd be interested in is terrorism. They are just simple day-to-day people going about their own business," she said.
Police in England have reportedly recovered bottles containing peroxide, including some with false bottoms, from a recycling centre close to the homes of some of the arrested suspects.
It has emerged MI5 agents launched covert intrusions on the homes of some suspects several weeks ago in "sneak and peek" operations to plant listening devices and gather evidence ahead of the arrests last week.
Links between suspects in the jet bomb plot and those behind the London 7/7 attacks have also come to light.
There are reports as many as five of those arrested attended the same terror training camp in Pakistan as two of the July 7 London suicide bombers.
And US intelligence sources said they believed at least two of the suspects had trained in Karachi and met al-Qaeda operatives in the lead up to the 7/7 attacks.
By Fiona Hudson
August 14, 2006 12:00
Article from:
Font size: + -
Send this article: Print Email
A HUSBAND and wife arrested in the British terror raids allegedly planned to take their six-month-old baby on a mid-air suicide mission.
Scotland Yard police are quizzing Abdula Ahmed Ali, 25, and his 23-year-old wife Cossor over suspicions they were to use their baby's bottle to hide a liquid bomb.
The theory is one of the reasons security chiefs are now insisting mothers taste babies' milk at check-in desks before allowing them to take bottles aboard flights.
The pair are among up to 23 suspects being questioned over a plot to bring down nine airliners over five US cities, killing thousands of people in the air and on the ground.
The questioning of the group comes as British Government sources yesterday revealed many of those suspects posed as relief workers to travel to al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan.
It has also been revealed that security services are secretly monitoring "dozens" of fresh plots involving hundreds of suspects which could be unleashed at any time.
One government source said at least 30 priority cases were under urgent investigation.
" All those 30 are seen as serious, determined attacks that will happen unless we stop them," the source said.
Police spent yesterday combing through the Alis' east London housing commission flat for clues.
Cossor took her baby with her to the police station during last week's raids but her son is now being cared for by grandparents.
Cossor's grandfather, Nazir Ahmed, 84, said Abdula had travelled to Pakistan about four weeks ago.
"We didn't understand what the hurry was and why he needed to go," Mr Ahmed said.
A neighbour at the flats where the married couple lived said he would be stunned if claims were true.
"I simply cannot believe he could have been involved in a plot like this. He is religious and seemed to love his family," the neighbour said.
"I would never have dreamed he could have been involved in anything like this."
A family friend of Cossor said she had known the arrested mother 12 years and believed her to be innocent.
"I think it is a case of mistaken identity. The last thing she'd be interested in is terrorism. They are just simple day-to-day people going about their own business," she said.
Police in England have reportedly recovered bottles containing peroxide, including some with false bottoms, from a recycling centre close to the homes of some of the arrested suspects.
It has emerged MI5 agents launched covert intrusions on the homes of some suspects several weeks ago in "sneak and peek" operations to plant listening devices and gather evidence ahead of the arrests last week.
Links between suspects in the jet bomb plot and those behind the London 7/7 attacks have also come to light.
There are reports as many as five of those arrested attended the same terror training camp in Pakistan as two of the July 7 London suicide bombers.
And US intelligence sources said they believed at least two of the suspects had trained in Karachi and met al-Qaeda operatives in the lead up to the 7/7 attacks.