Britain remains vigilant amid alerts

www.examiner.ie 15/02/03

BRITAIN remained on terror alert last night after another day of security scares across Britain.

A total of nine suspects have now been arrested near airports in the north and south of England, while Heathrow’s Terminal Two was evacuated after a security alert yesterday. Six of the suspects were subsequently released from custody. Five of them were later handed over to the immigration service. One man caught with a hand grenade getting off a jet at Gatwick airport on Thursday

was still being questioned last night by anti-terrorism officers. Police in West Yorkshire also revealed that on Thursday they arrested two men, aged 25 and 26, and seized a car near the perimeter fence of Leeds/Bradford Airport. They were also being questioned last night.

Roads were closed around Stansted in Essex yesterday while security has been beefed up at airports in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham since high profile security measures were launched on Tuesday.

Passengers were evacuated in a security alert at Heathrow’s Terminal Two, which was closed for an hour-and-a- half. It reopened in the afternoon, after a suspect package was found. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Scotland Yard revealed that four men in their 20s were arrested on Thursday afternoon in Langley, Berkshire four miles from Heathrow Airport. They were later released from arrest under anti-terrorism laws but were kept in custody and handed over to the Immigration Service.

Two other arrests made on Thursday in the Hounslow area, near Heathrow, were described as not significant. One man was released yesterday and one handed over to the Immigration Service.

Anti-terror squad detectives are still questioning the 37-year-old man from Venezuela caught with a live hand grenade in his luggage at Gatwick. Checks are being made in the capital Caracas to establish his background while he remains at high security Paddington Green police station in London.

Irish passengers flying to Britain were not affected by the terrorist warnings and evacuations at Heathrow airport yesterday.

Aer Rianta said there had been some delays at Dublin airport but no more than any “normal afternoon”