Government assure nation over planned tube attack

THE British government tried to calm a jittery nation’s nerves last night by playing down reports of a planned cyanide gas attack on London’s Underground rail system after three men were arrested under anti-terror legislation.

Scotland Yard, London’s police headquarters, said the men had been charged under the Terrorism Act with “possession of articles for the preparation, instigation and commission of terrorism acts.”

It named them as Rabah Chekat-Bais, 21, Karim Kadouri, 33, and Rabah Kadris, in his mid-30s. All were unemployed and living in Britain.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said there was no evidence that bombs or poison gas were involved.

“It’s excited the press. I'll leave them to sell their newspapers,” he told BBC Television. “It doesn’t appear that there’s any evidence whatsoever there was going to be a gas attack or indeed use of bombs regarding the three people who’ve been arrested.”

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw later confirmed the arrests of the six suspects, but refused to speculate further.

He said: “The arrests are accurate. I am not going to speculate about the circumstances, that is a matter for the court proceedings.”

But he emphasised that the Government had been improving surveillance of international terrorist groups in Britain since September 11.

Issuing warnings to the public involved “difficult balances of judgement”, he said, adding: “I think broadly we get them right. Where specific warnings are not issued it’s usually because we simply don’t have specific warnings.”

Mr Straw went on: “What we do ask the public to be assured about is of the absolute determination of the British Government and our very good law enforcement agencies to make the fight against terrorism our number one priority.”

The Government would never allow people’s lives to be at risk unnecessarily, he stressed.

Asked if it was safe for commuters to use the Tube network tomorrow, he replied: “Yes, so far as I know, it’s fully safe to use the Underground.”

He added: “Very, very rarely do we get a piece of information which says that X atrocity is about to happen at Y place on Z date. Things don’t work like that.”

The Sunday Times newspaper said the three had planned to launch a cyanide attack on the underground system. The system is the world's oldest and carries more than three million passengers around London every day.

The paper said the men were members of a group allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and had planned to import chemicals into Britain to make a gas bomb.

Britain is on a heightened state of alert after PM Tony Blair last week said he was bombarded daily with intelligence about threats to the country.