British police investigating an alleged plot to blow up US-bound airliners are optimistic they will be able to soon charge many of the 23 suspects in custody here, reports said yesterday.
The newspaper reports come after the BBC said that detectives have recovered "martyrdom videos" as well as a suitcase containing components needed to make a bomb.
Senior police and government officials told the Sunday Times that more than half of the 23 suspects held over the alleged plot to blow up the trans-Atlantic airliners are expected to be charged with terrorist offenses.
Most of the 23 can be held until Wednesday before police have to ask a judge to further extend their detention, police say. Under Brit-ain's anti-terror laws, police can hold them up to 28 days before charging or releasing them.
Two people arrested by the police have already been released.
The Sunday Times said that police are building a strong case after having uncovered bomb-making equipment, chemicals, a large sum of cash, at least one gun and "significant" documents.
The BBC, quoting unofficial police sources, reported that detectives found on laptops at least half a dozen "martyrdom videos" apparently recorded by some of the suspects as they prepared for suicide attacks.
London's Metropolitan Police declined to comment on veracity the report.
A police spokeswoman told reporters late on Saturday that investigators are still searching 12 locations. Since announcing Aug. 10 that they had foiled the plot, they have obtained more than 50 search warrants.
Senior sources quoted by the Sunday Times claim that the first batch of suspects will be charged with terrorism offenses within the next 10 days and more than half of those being held are expected to be charged.
The police "are very buoyant, very confident that the majority of these people will face terrorism charges," one official told the paper.
The police did not expect a repeat of events in June when a raid in London's northeastern Forest Gate neighborhood failed to uncover evidence in support of intelligence of a chemical bomb plot.
Security sources quoted by the Sunday Telegraph said that the police are "hugely optimistic" that they will be able to bring charges against many of the suspects in the very near future.
Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5 is convinced that the airline plot and many others are being coordinated by al-Qaeda operatives, according to the Telegraph, quoting an unidentified government official.
Meanwhile, the watchdog Charity Commission said that it is in the process of evaluating reports potentially linking some suspects to Crescent Relief London, a British aid group that raised money for earthquake relief in Pakistan last year.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER: ’After parkour ... you dare to do a lot of things that you think only young people can do,’ a 67-year-old parkour enthusiast said In a corner of suburban Singapore, Betty Boon vaults a guardrail, crawls underneath a slide, executes forward shoulder rolls and scales a steep slope, finishing the course to applause. “Good job,” the 69-year-old’s coach cheers. This is “geriatric parkour,” where about 20 retirees learned to tackle a series of relatively demanding exercises, building their agility and enjoying a sense of camaraderie. Boon, an upbeat grandmother, said learning parkour has aided her confidence and independence as she ages. “When you’re weak, you will be dependent on someone,” she said after sweating it out with her parkour classmates in suburban Toa Payoh,
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
RSS