#4 BABY BOMB
Aug 13 2006
By Susie Boniface And Michael Duffy
A HUSBAND and wife terror team planned to sacrifice their baby as part of a plot to blast transatlantic jets out of the sky, detectives fear.
Police probing the planned terror outrage are investigating an alleged gruesome plan to use the young baby as a "decoy".
They believe the man may have wanted to take his wife and child on board a flight and she was prepared to sacrifice her baby in the deadly suicide strike.
Cops believe they would have hidden deadly chemicals in the baby's milk. The grim discovery is behind the decision to make all mothers taste their baby's milk before boarding flights to make sure it has not been contaminated.
Detectives are horrified at the prospect the terror suspect could have been prepared to kill his own family.
Last night a high-ranking intelligence source said: "This takes things to a horrifying new level. It is truly horrific that a man may have been ready to blow up his wife and she was prepared to let her child die."
The husband was arrested at home as part of the dramatic dawn raids on Thursday. Last night he was still being quizzed by cops at a high-security police station. The suspect - one of 24 arrested - lived in a council flat.
A neighbour said: "I simply cannot believe he could have been involved in a plot like this. He is religious and seemed to love his family."
Last night detectives and forensic experts were still combing the couple's home for clues.
In another development, it emerged that MI5 spies secretly broke into the home of one of the plane plot suspects 10 days ago.
Using lock-picks, the spooks carried out the extraordinary "sneak and peek" raid. They found liquid explosives and detonators and false-bottomed bottles in a shed at one of the London addresses.
The agents then retreated, leaving no evidence of the break-in. But they were convinced the would-be bombers were serious about their plan to blow up nine planes, so they left hidden listening devices to gather vital evidence and MI5 upped their surveillance operation.
Intelligence sources said the "sneak and peek" raid was the beginning of the end game for an investigation that began with a tip-off from a member of Britain's Muslim community in the wake of last summer's 7/7 bombings.
Further links between last week's arrested suspects and other al-Qaeda supporting terror cells were revealed yesterday.
Five of the suspected plotters are believed to have visited a madrassa terror school in Pakistan which was also attended by 7/7 suicide bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan.
On-the-run al-Qaeda chief Matti-ur-Rehman has been named as the mastermind behind the jet bomb plot by people arrested by security services in Pakistan. Rehman, 29, is said to have a "Rolodex of terror" containing details of tens of thousands jihadi fighters who have passed through al-Qaeda's training camps in the region.
He is also wanted in connection with a string of assassinations and bombings in Pakistan and India, and involvement with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Rehman is believed to have "run" one of the main terror suspects, Rashid Rauf, 25, of Birmingham - who travelled to Pakistan after the death of his uncle four years ago.
Rauf - who was arrested on Wednesday - was tailed for six months by the Pakistan security service, who allegedly tapped phone calls and emails to the other suspects in Britain.
Rehman has also been accused of wiring money to Britain to pay for plane tickets and is expected to be extradited to the UK. His brother Tayib, 21, is one of the men detained here. Two other men, Mohamed al-Ghandra and Ahmed al-Khan, who were arrested with Rauf, were also named for the first time yesterday.
The Sunday Mirror can also reveal that at least one of the arrested men had been cleared by police to work at Heathrow.
An internal inquiry is expected after it emerged that Asmin Tariq, 23, of Walthamstow, East London, was cleared as an ancillary security worker for Jet Airways. He had earlier worked for G4S, which used to be Securicor.
A Jet spokesman said: "All employees are cleared by police and security agencies in the UK."
A total of 24 people were arrested at addresses in High Wycombe, Walthamstow and Birmingham. Searches found at least two "martyrdom tapes", filmed by bombers as they prepare to die and designed to be released days or months after the attacks.
On Friday night one of the 24 suspects was released without charge.
Twenty-two others will remain in custody until Wednesday. One man will have a detention hearing tomorrow.
|
Government officials declined Saturday to comment about him, but have identified Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim who was captured about a week ago from the eastern district of Bhawalpur, as a key personÂ’ in the British aircraft plot, and alleged he has ties with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.