Newsstand - Gatwick Airport Evacuated

Just heard this on MSNBC, that Gatwick Airport has been evacuated. No specifics given for the evacuation as of yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2757143.stm

It's the North Terminal only, says the BBC. Not airport-wide.

I heard something about arrests outside LHR?

What is going on today?! This is very strange!

Uncorrelated events. British security picked up two men for questioning "near Heathrow Airport"... on the same day a British paper reported that SAM anti-missile launchers had been smuggled into the country by terrorists... and Gatwick North has been emptied for unknown reasons. These data points don't necessarily add up to anything though.

One man was also arrested at Gatwick, and two near Heathrow. I'm not so sure we can assume there is no correlation between the two events.

"Police have cleared the north terminal of Gatwick Airport and arrested a man under anti-terrorism legislation.
All flights from the terminal have been suspended.
Two men were also arrested near Heathrow airport under the Terrorism Act on Thursday afternoon.

The terrorist must not be able to assess what we know or how we know it

The men were taken to Paddington Green police station in central London for questioning, a Scotland Yard spokesman said."

Could be. Just trying not to jump to conclusions. The mainstream press is hysterical enough right now...

Oh God........he had a live hand grenade.

"Police have cleared the north terminal of Gatwick Airport and arrested a man under anti-terrorism legislation after the discovery of a live hand grenade, Home Secretary David Blunkett said.
All flights from the terminal have been suspended while the security alert continues."

SKY is reporting that the man arrested at LGW is a Venezuelan national.

Apparently the guy made it to LGW from Bogota with the grenade in his luggage.

I always though Colombia was a little sketchy. But a live grenade? C'mon!

Apparently found by customs in a checked bag.

Latest News from LGW website

http://www.baa.co.uk/main/general/baa/gatwick_north_terminal_closure_13_februar y_2003_page.html (http://www.baa.co.uk/main/general/baa/gatwick_north_terminal_closure_13_february_2003_pa ge.html)


" Following a security incident earlier today which resulted in the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport closing, flights from the airport are operating as follows:-

- Flights departing from the North Terminal are currently suspended however inbound flights are arriving as normal and passengers are arriving through the South Terminal.

- Passengers expecting to travel from the North Terminal today should contact their airline for up to date information about individual flights.

- Approach roads to the North Terminal are open but access to the Terminal building is restricted.

- Flights in and outbound from the South Terminal are operating as normal. However, we would advise passengers that they may experience some delays as a result of today's earlier incident.

Gatwick Airport is working closely with Sussex Police and other airport agencies to resolve this as quickly as possible.

Update as at 1730 hrs

At approx 16:50 today a 37 year old man was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 by officers from Sussex Police in the north terminal of Gatwick Airport.

The man, a Venezuelan national, had arrived at Gatwick on a BA flight (BA 2048) from Colombia.

On arrival at the airport the man's luggage was searched and found to contain a suspicious item. The item has been examined by explosives officers and it appears to be a grenade.

The man has been transferred into the custody of the Metropolitan Police Service's Anti Terrorist Branch officers and is being taken to a central London police station for questioning. The Anti Terrorist Branch will now be leading this enquiry."

Nigel



[This message has been edited by beergut (edited 02-13-2003).]

LGW now reopened , grenade was in hold luggage and apparently the guy was pulled randomly by customs

Nigel

Having been in and out of Botota several times, you could probably bring on a whole munitions factory if the price was right.

Inbound flights from non security consious countries could turn out to be a pretty big deal.

BA2048 originates in BOG, and stops in CCS on Wednesday's where it picks up other pax's

Clearly the media is wrong on the origin of the pax. He most likey got on in CCS.

I don't see how anyone can get onboard in BOG with anything like this. They've been paranoid WELL before 9/11 on dangerous objects on planes (or people)

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 02-13-2003).]

Update:

Passenger with grenade and Koran closes Gatwick

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-577351,00.html

Anyone considered that the extra security activity possibly attracts freaks and wackos ?

Bet he's not the only person (of any race or origin) with a live grenade. My granfather had a collection of war remains for years in his shed.

Clearly it is time for security at all UK airports to be tightened ! I demand that tanks head for Papa Westray right now (the airport is in fact the beach) !

[This message has been edited by GK (edited 02-13-2003).]

It turns out the man with the live hand grenade and koran was of Bangladeshi origin. He was travelling on a Venezuelan passport.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030214/4/dt7yd.html

The Koran and non-Venezuela origin of the person has NOT been picked up by any legit wire services... I would consider that info suspect...

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 02-14-2003).]

Here are reports from four British newspapers -- the Times of London, The Sun, The Independent, and The Daily Record. Keep in mind that many journalistic organizations have a standing practice and policy to censor certain facts.

"Passenger with grenade and Koran closes Gatwick

Police sealed the North Terminal for five hours, almost 100 flights were delayed, and many incoming passengers were kept aboard their aircraft as the 37-year-old passenger, who was carrying a copy of the Koran, was taken to Paddington Green police station. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-577351,00.html

----
"A LIVE grenade was smuggled on to a British Airways jet yesterday in a shocking security blunder.

The lethal bomb was found in a bag when the plane landed at Gatwick after a ten-hour flight.

A copy of the Koran and some wiring was also uncovered in the case, which was being carried by a man who is believed to be a Muslim from Bangladesh.

A police source said last night that the suspect had travelled widely in the Middle East.

He had official stamps from a number of Arab countries in the pages of his passport. "

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003071396,00.html

---

"The man carrying it, believed to be a Bangladeshi, also had suspicious items of wiring and a copy of the Koran in his baggage.

The grenade was found in a routine search of..luggage which had been in the aircraft hold. The plane, a Boeing 777 with 125 passengers on board, landed at 1.23pm.

The 37-year-old man, suspected of being an Islamic extremist with connections in the UK, was arrested by Sussex Police but questioned by Special Branch officers."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003071396,00.html

----

"Scotland Yard and Customs refused to discuss reports the man was of Bangladeshi origin and was also carrying a copy of the Koran. "

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=378213

----

"The man, 37, believed to be of Bangladeshi origin, was reported to be carrying a copy of the Koran. He was travelling on a Venezuelan passport."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/page.cfm?objectid=12639665&method=full&siteid=89488

The wire services are a couple days behind the british papers, but are now finally starting to report some of the facts.

It has now been revealed that the man's name is "Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan". He is due to appear in court today. Here is a report by the Associated Press.

"Police said Sunday that a 37-year-old Venezuelan arrested Thursday after a suspected live hand grenade was found in his luggage at Gatwick airport had been charged under the Terrorism Act.

Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan was charged with possession of explosives, possession of items for terrorist purposes and carrying a dangerous item on a flight. He was arrested after arriving on a flight from Caracas. The discovery led officers to shut the airport's North Terminal for several hours.

Rahaham-Alan was due to appear Monday at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGARYOZD9CD.html

It will be fascinating to see what comes out of this, if anything. I have never seen as high a state of alert as was in evidence in London last week.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18391913

Three officers from the Metropolitan Police were scheduled to arrive in the Venezuelan capital as part of their investigation into Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan, 37, who was arrested last week after stepping off a British Airways flight from Caracas, sources close to the investigation said.

Tight-lipped Venezuelan immigration authorities say Rahaham-Alan was carrying a false domestic identification card and they could not confirm his identity. {oh yeah real tight lipped there}

"It's the same name, but we are not sure we are talking about the same person. We're not sure if he is a Venezuelan or not," said Alfredo Gil Romero, director of the immigration control agency.

Reuters visited the two-story green-and-white home, where Rahaham-Alan told a London courtroom he had lived. Neighbors said that a family named Rahaham had lived for more than a decade in the house, perched along a sun-scorched hillside overlooking the eastern part of Caracas.

Interpol police on Friday visited the home, which had been unoccupied for nearly a month, local residents said.

"I was surprised to hear this," said one neighbor, who asked not to be named. "They are really decent, professional people. I used to call the mother 'grandma' and she would invite me in for tea and coffee."

The elderly mother and her four children were not believed to be native Venezuelans, but residents of this middle-class neighborhood said they didn't know where the family had come from. Two sons and a daughter lived outside Caracas, but the third son had not visited the home for about three years, they said.
[...]
U.S. officials last year said they were concerned that extremist Islamic groups were receiving financial backing from Middle Eastern expatriate communities on Venezuela's Margarita Island, a popular Caribbean tourist haven.
Venezuelan government officials admit their troubled immigration controls need an urgent overhaul.
[...]
British officials also want to determine how a hand grenade got through Caracas airport security. Sources said that the grenade was carried in a metal box that helped mask it from X-ray equipment.

Man arrested for carrying a grenade travelling on false passport

According to a Venezuelan government official, the man arrested at London Gatwick airport for carrying a live hand grenade on a British Airways flight from Caracas was travelling with false Venezuelan documentation.

The director general of identification Alfredo Gil Romero has said that both the passport and identity card of Rahaman Alan Azil were both forgeries.

"We cannot be sure that the citizen that is currently in London is really a Venezuelan. His passport was not issued in the normal way."

The man's identity card states it was processed in 1990, but the identity number is for a different person and was processed in 1978.

Venezuelan security forces will now be working together with international agencies such as Interpol to discover the man's.true identity.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=3225