Al Qaeda,  Glasgow,  Global War on Terror,  London,  Terrorists,  United Kingdom

UK Terror Watch: Two More Arrests in Car Bomb Plot

A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.

To recap from yesterday:

OVER 36 HOURS… THE TIMETABLE OF TERROR

1.25AM Green Mercedes packed with 13 gallons of petrol, gas cylinders and nails left outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in central London’s Haymarket.

Paramedics treating a drunken reveller spot smoke in the car and call police who defuse the bomb with minutes to spare.

2.30AM Blue Mercedes found illegally parked on nearby Cockspur Street and is ticketed.

3.30AM Second Mercedes is towed to a car pound in Park Lane where employees notice a gas-like smell.

1.15PM Police evacuate the pound as bomb disposal team is called to defuse a device made from two telephones linked to canisters on the back seat. ‘It was pure luck neither device went off,’ said a security source.

1.40PM Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says Britain is ‘currently facing a most serious and sustained’ threat.

3.05PM Scottish police contact a letting agency responsible for a home in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, and ask about the tenants staying there.

3.15PM A blazing Jeep Cherokee crashes into the arrivals hall of Glasgow Airport. An Asian man clutching a Molotov cocktail-type device is held by police and passers-by.

A second Asian man sets himself alight with petrol before fighting with police and security staff.

8PM National terror threat level raised to ‘Critical’ by Jacqui Smith on the advice of MI5. This means further attacks are expected ‘imminently’.

8.40PM Prime Minister Gordon Brown gives televised address to the nation in which he urges ‘vigilance’. His message to the terrorists is: ‘We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life.’

9.30PM Police raid a house rented by a 26-year-old Jordanian born doctor in Newcastleunder-Lyme, Staffordshire.

11.15PM-2AM Stand off involving at least eight armed officers who try to enter a property in Hatherley Street, Liverpool. Three men and one woman are taken away by police, but are released the next day.

11.30PM The Jordanian doctor and a 27-year-old woman wearing a Muslim veil are arrested on the M6 in Cheshire. Seven unmarked police cars containing more than 20 officers box his car on to the hard-shoulder.

The couple are taken to a central London police station for questioning.

12.10PM Police raid an address in Ramilies Road, near Penny Lane, Liverpool.

1AM A 26-year-old man linked to the Ramilies Road house is arrested near Liverpool’s Lime Street station.

4.30AM Police search a house in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, thought to be used by the airport attackers.

Neighbour tells how Asian men moved into the house about three months ago. In the past week one was seen washing a Jeep Cherokee.

2.15PM Controlled explosion is carried out on a car at the Scottish hospital where one of the airport terror attack suspects is being treated.

Saved: One of the would-be Glasgow suicide bombers is bravely hosed down with a fire extinguisher by a security guard as the Jeep Cherokee bursts into flames

New York Times: Britain Arrests Two More in Car Bomb Plot

British police today arrested two more suspects in connection with the attempted car bombings last week in London and Glasgow, the authorities said, bringing the total number of arrests to seven in what the government has described as a plot linked to Al Qaeda.

The Strathclyde police in Scotland said the arrests of the two men, aged 25 and 28, occurred in the Paisley area west of Glasgow, near Glasgow Airport, and followed a night of “intensive police operations.”

“It’s obviously in connection with the incidents at the airport on Saturday,” a police spokeswoman said.

On Saturday, two men rammed a Jeep Cherokee into the entrance of Glasgow Airport. That followed the incidents in the West End of London on Friday when two car bombs failed to explode.

The police spokeswoman said that neither of the men arrested today are believed to be of “Scottish origin”. None of the five suspects arrested in operations over the weekend are British citizens, a senior Western official said.

Held: The couple are arrested on the M6

Nicked: Doc and wife in a burka

THE suspected ringleader of a plot to unleash a blitz of car bombs on Britain is an Iranian doctor arrested with his burka-clad wife.

Neurologist Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, and his wife, 27, were dramatically held as they drove on the M6 in Cheshire with their two-year-old son.

Five people were being quizzed — at least two of them medics — as it became clear the attacks in London and Glasgow were by the same gang.

Sources said one of two men held while trying to smash a blazing vehicle into a Glasgow Airport terminal on Saturday afternoon is also a doctor, from Iraq.

Security bosses believe the two men in Glasgow also drove two Mercedes cars laden with petrol and gas canisters used in a failed bid to devastate London’s West End early on Friday.

Sky News is reporting that the Iraqi doctor involved in the Glasgow car bomb was trained in Baghdad.

There are now seven suspects in custody.

More updates throughout the day.

Others Blogging:

Previous:

UK Terror Watch: Five Arrested in Car Bomb Attacks; Update: UK Police Raids in Newcastle – Under-Lyme Connected to Terror; Update: JFK Airport Evacuated in New York; Update: All Clear at JFK; Update: Crevice Gang Behind Terror Plot?; Update: Five Suspects NOT British and Sixth Suspect Sought; Update: Terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport Has Been Closed Due to Suspicious Package; Update: 2 of the 5 Suspects are Medical Doctors Working in the UK; Update: Frontal Image of Terrorist – Police Were on the Trail of Glasgow Bombers; Update: Dr. Mohammed Asha Identified as Glasgow Perp

UK Terror Watch: Video – Glasgow Bomb Suspects Shouted “ALLAH”

Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Links Terrorism and Border Security

Michael Ramirez on John Edwards and the UK Terrorist Bombings

UK Terror Watch: Flaming Car Rams into Glasgow Airport Part 2;Update – Police Have Made Two More Arrests in Cheshire, England in London, Glasgow Terror Incidents

UK Terror Watch: Flaming Car Rams into Glasgow Airport; Update: U.S. Boosting Presence of Security Officials at Airports; Update: Eyewitness Reports – One of Car Bombers Fought with Police Shouting Allah Allah;Britain Raises Security Level to Critical – Another Attack Imminent; Update: Terror Suspect Dies? Or Not?; Update: Glasgow Incident Linked to London Attack Yesterday; Update: Three Suspects Involved at Glasgow – One Dead at Scene

Terror in London Watch: Police Have Crystal Clear Image of Car Bomber

Terror in London Watch: Explosives-Packed Car Defused; Update: UK Launches Manhunt for Failed Car Bombers; Update: A Suspect Has Been Identified on Camera; Update:3 sought after 2nd car bomb found in London


Technorati Tags: , , ,