Airline plot alert - A state of confusion and terror

THE world got a grim reminder yesterday of how terrorism can turn life upside down as Britain and America went on the highest possible security alert over a reported terrorist plot.

Global transport was disrupted, stock markets and currencies plummeted, and beleaguered air travellers were thrown into a state of confusion, not to mention terror.

Despite the dubious record of British police in high-profile incidents, the allegations of a plot to blow up US planes in flight from Britain and America and commit “mass murder on an unimaginable scale” warrant credence.

From an internal standpoint, the worrying aspect is that the 21 al-Qaida suspects arrested in a pre-dawn swoop were all British-born.

Scotland Yard claims that homegrown Muslim terrorists were narrowly averted from causing carnage in the mid-Atlantic as they were prevented from synchronising detonations of explosive devices reportedly smuggled in hand luggage onto as many as 10 aircraft.

Effectively, this means Britain is failing to convince disaffected young Muslims that citizenship must come before fundamentalism.

In this context, the language used by the police was highly significant. By saying a terrorist strike was ‘disrupted’, they infer more terrorists remain active.

While a major disaster was averted, tens of thousands of passengers were embroiled in chaos and mayhem as flights were grounded at airports in Britain, America, Ireland, Europe and around the globe.

In a milestone development, further draconian limits were set on the personal freedom of long-suffering air travellers.

For the first time, people were confined to carry-on luggage in plastic bags and restricted to bringing spectacles, passports, money, and little else, into the cabin. A seminal point in aviation history, this suggests the pattern of worldwide travel could be radically transformed from here on.

A scary glimpse of the impact of such restrictions was seen at British airports as mothers, boarding planes with young babies, were asked to taste bottled milk for the children under the eyes of security staff.

This was aimed at finding if it was actually milk or liquid explosives which, according to police, terrorists planned to secrete in hand luggage and smuggle onto aircraft. Similarly, if combustible liquid was used to start a fire, the result would be equally disastrous.

Despite being played down by Government, the implications of the security crisis for Ireland are clearly worrying. Coming on top of soaring energy prices, and with airline shares plummeting, it could seriously damage Government plans to privatise Aer Lingus.

While flights resumed in the afternoon, 18 Aer Lingus flights between Dublin, Shannon, Cork and Heathrow were cancelled yesterday. Confusion reigned as Aer Lingus banned hand luggage for passengers travelling to Britain for onward flights whereas no such ban was imposed by Ryanair.

Significantly, nine Aer Lingus flights between Shannon and America were not affected. Yet, Shannon’s role as a transit hub for US troops going to and from Iraq continues to make it a prime target for terrorism.

Guarding against panic is vital since that plays into the hands of the terrorist. Nonetheless, people flying between Ireland and the US will derive cold comfort from Transport Minister Martin Cullen’s bland assurance that there is no increased security risk at Irish airports.

Doubtless, it was reassuring to hear that the Government’s national emergency committee met yesterday to review Ireland’s anti-terrorist strategy.

But while there is no change to security at national level, in light of the new and deadly tactics being adopted by terrorists, there is a clear need for heightened security at Shannon.