Risk of Al-Qaida attacks in Britain remains ‘high’

AL-QAIDA terrorists have a “substantial presence” in Britain, and the risk of attacks remains high, the most senior police officer in England and Wales said yesterday.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens dismissed suggestions that a hoax was to blame for the terror alert which has seen tanks at Heathrow and heightened security at other airports around the country over the past week.

The British Government’s emergency planning committee, codenamed Cobra, was meeting daily to assess the level of threat and did not believe the danger of terror attacks was over, Mr Stephens said.

He confirmed there were concerns at the highest levels that ground-to-air missile-launchers had been smuggled into Britain and could be used in attempts to shoot down planes taking off or landing at British airports. And he said there was a “generalised threat” that people operating within London would use whatever means they could find to bring mayhem to the capital.

While most security work to thwart the terrorists had to go on in secrecy, Mr Stephens said some successes had been achieved, with a total of 72 arrests over several months for terrorist offences.

Mr Stephens was speaking as it was reported the man arrested at Gatwick airport on Thursday with a live grenade in his baggage was known to authorities in his native Venezuela and had visited “sensitive countries” within the past few months.

Hasil Mohammed Rahaham-Alan was last night charged under the Terrorism Act, Scotland Yard said.

The 37-year-old is charged with possession of an article for the purpose of committing a terrorist act, possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or damage property and carrying a dangerous article on a British registered aircraft.

The US Department of State has said Islamic extremist groups have long operated on Venezuela’s Margarita Island, which is home to a large expatriate population from the Middle East, many of whom work in the oil industry.