Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Saudis Pass Intelligence to Brits That Aircraft Was Threatened
Aired August 13, 2003 - 11:04 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Airline security is behind a move by British Airways to halt flights to the Saudi kingdom. CNN's Tony Campion joining us once again from London with all of the details on those. Hello to you again, Tony.
TONY CAMPION, CNN INTL. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Heidi. Yes, British Airways calling it a precaution at this stage, according to a statement from their director of safety and security. But the Reuters News Agency is actually crediting the U.K. government as talking of a credible intelligence of a serious threat to U.K. aviation interests in Saudi Arabia, not just to British Airways, although I think I'm right in saying they would be the only airline which were directly affected.
What's happened is that British Airways' regular eight weekly flights to both Riyadh and Jeddah have all been canceled. The first flight to be affected would have left under about an hour and a half ago.
Now this follows a briefing between British Airways and the British government's Department for Transports. The Department of Transport passing on information which has led British Airways to make this decision.
The question is of course where did the Department of Transport get its information? And to find the answer to that we have to wind the clock back to yesterday, Tuesday, on go to Washington where a Saudi official was talking to U.S. reporters and trying to convince those U.S. reporters is of Saudi Arabia's willingness to join in with the war on terror and to fight terrorists where it found them.
Spoke specifically of the arrest on Monday, now, of ten people who this Saudi official said was part of a major cell, a major terrorist cell, we can presume he means by that. And further more, that they were aimed at British targets, a Saudi official talking of ten arrests on Tuesday. He was talking on Tuesday. The arrests came on Monday.
Now, a U.S. official has confirmed the situation regarding the arrests and added a little more information by saying that there was material seized in the raids that contained information showing an interest specifically in British aircraft.
So you piece those three things together and it seems there was information seized in a raid on Monday which led U.S. and Saudi officials specifically to speak to the British government, warning of credible threats to British aviation interests in Saudi Arabia. The government has now passed that information firstly to British Airways, which has canceled its flights to the country, and now also to the public at large. Heidi, that's the situation.
COLLINS: All right, Tony Campion, thanks so much live from London today. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Threatened>
Aired August 13, 2003 - 11:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Airline security is behind a move by British Airways to halt flights to the Saudi kingdom. CNN's Tony Campion joining us once again from London with all of the details on those. Hello to you again, Tony.
TONY CAMPION, CNN INTL. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Heidi. Yes, British Airways calling it a precaution at this stage, according to a statement from their director of safety and security. But the Reuters News Agency is actually crediting the U.K. government as talking of a credible intelligence of a serious threat to U.K. aviation interests in Saudi Arabia, not just to British Airways, although I think I'm right in saying they would be the only airline which were directly affected.
What's happened is that British Airways' regular eight weekly flights to both Riyadh and Jeddah have all been canceled. The first flight to be affected would have left under about an hour and a half ago.
Now this follows a briefing between British Airways and the British government's Department for Transports. The Department of Transport passing on information which has led British Airways to make this decision.
The question is of course where did the Department of Transport get its information? And to find the answer to that we have to wind the clock back to yesterday, Tuesday, on go to Washington where a Saudi official was talking to U.S. reporters and trying to convince those U.S. reporters is of Saudi Arabia's willingness to join in with the war on terror and to fight terrorists where it found them.
Spoke specifically of the arrest on Monday, now, of ten people who this Saudi official said was part of a major cell, a major terrorist cell, we can presume he means by that. And further more, that they were aimed at British targets, a Saudi official talking of ten arrests on Tuesday. He was talking on Tuesday. The arrests came on Monday.
Now, a U.S. official has confirmed the situation regarding the arrests and added a little more information by saying that there was material seized in the raids that contained information showing an interest specifically in British aircraft.
So you piece those three things together and it seems there was information seized in a raid on Monday which led U.S. and Saudi officials specifically to speak to the British government, warning of credible threats to British aviation interests in Saudi Arabia. The government has now passed that information firstly to British Airways, which has canceled its flights to the country, and now also to the public at large. Heidi, that's the situation.
COLLINS: All right, Tony Campion, thanks so much live from London today. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Threatened>
