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CNN Live At Daybreak
British Flight Delays Due to Unspecified Security Concerns
Aired January 05, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For five days in a row, British Airways Flight 223 from London to Washington was delayed or cancelled. Now there is a report in the online edition of the U.K. "Mirror" that a woman suicide bomber planned to blow up that plane over Washington, and you will not believe where she reportedly tried to hide the explosives.
We want to get the latest on this from CNN's Sheila MacVicar in London.
First of all, is this a credible report?
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, this report appeared in the Saturday print edition of the "Mirror." It's a national newspaper, a tabloid, a red-top as it's called here. It's a pretty sensational story.
And it has to be said that although this is something that intelligence agencies and security consultants have been thinking about and talking about since the weeks immediately following September 11, there has been no evidence to suggest that that, in fact, is the specific nature of the threat against that London to Washington flight -- Flight 223 -- which was delayed. In fact, it was due to take off we think on time today in just a very short while.
This is something that intelligence agencies and security consultants have talked about the possibility that extremists would use a woman, that they would even use children or children's toys, that perhaps there might be more than one person involved in the attempted bombing or an act designed to bring down or, again, gain control of a plane.
So, this -- again, there is no specific intelligence. There are other theories out there, including the fact that the flight number, 223, is the number of a U.N. resolution, which, again, hammers Israel for its actions against Palestinians.
So, it's not clear what the specific threat was -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, I don't know if you'll know the answer to this question, but this woman supposedly was going to hide the explosives inside her body. Could that be detected? You know, if this report is true, could that be detected as she passed through security?
MACVICAR: Well, let's say again that we have no information. There is no intelligence which suggests that the report is true. The notion that somebody might try to conceal some form of explosives like a Plastique (ph) or a Sumtex (ph), a C-4, a military-grade explosive which does not contain any metal in some part of their body is not a new one.
Now, a lot of the military explosives do have a metal element in it, which permits detection, and that's done for security reasons.
But the notion that somebody like Richard Reid -- remember, the shoe bomber, who had, with someone else, manufactured a set of, if you will, sneakers that were loaded with explosives. Those sneakers were not detected by airport security.
So, yes, technically it is possible that either by concealing it inside a body, by concealing it inside clothes, a teddy bear or something else, somebody might be able to get explosives on board a plane. The question, of course, is having the explosives is one thing. Being able to detonate it is something else entirely -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sheila MacVicar reporting live from London for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Concerns>
Aired January 5, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For five days in a row, British Airways Flight 223 from London to Washington was delayed or cancelled. Now there is a report in the online edition of the U.K. "Mirror" that a woman suicide bomber planned to blow up that plane over Washington, and you will not believe where she reportedly tried to hide the explosives.
We want to get the latest on this from CNN's Sheila MacVicar in London.
First of all, is this a credible report?
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, this report appeared in the Saturday print edition of the "Mirror." It's a national newspaper, a tabloid, a red-top as it's called here. It's a pretty sensational story.
And it has to be said that although this is something that intelligence agencies and security consultants have been thinking about and talking about since the weeks immediately following September 11, there has been no evidence to suggest that that, in fact, is the specific nature of the threat against that London to Washington flight -- Flight 223 -- which was delayed. In fact, it was due to take off we think on time today in just a very short while.
This is something that intelligence agencies and security consultants have talked about the possibility that extremists would use a woman, that they would even use children or children's toys, that perhaps there might be more than one person involved in the attempted bombing or an act designed to bring down or, again, gain control of a plane.
So, this -- again, there is no specific intelligence. There are other theories out there, including the fact that the flight number, 223, is the number of a U.N. resolution, which, again, hammers Israel for its actions against Palestinians.
So, it's not clear what the specific threat was -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, I don't know if you'll know the answer to this question, but this woman supposedly was going to hide the explosives inside her body. Could that be detected? You know, if this report is true, could that be detected as she passed through security?
MACVICAR: Well, let's say again that we have no information. There is no intelligence which suggests that the report is true. The notion that somebody might try to conceal some form of explosives like a Plastique (ph) or a Sumtex (ph), a C-4, a military-grade explosive which does not contain any metal in some part of their body is not a new one.
Now, a lot of the military explosives do have a metal element in it, which permits detection, and that's done for security reasons.
But the notion that somebody like Richard Reid -- remember, the shoe bomber, who had, with someone else, manufactured a set of, if you will, sneakers that were loaded with explosives. Those sneakers were not detected by airport security.
So, yes, technically it is possible that either by concealing it inside a body, by concealing it inside clothes, a teddy bear or something else, somebody might be able to get explosives on board a plane. The question, of course, is having the explosives is one thing. Being able to detonate it is something else entirely -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sheila MacVicar reporting live from London for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Concerns>
