Plot was ‘well advanced and close to execution’

THE alleged scheme to blow up passenger jets in mid-air was very close to execution and was “in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot”, US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday.

Mr Chertoff told a press conference in Washington DC that the plan had been to detonate liquid explosives on board “multiple commercial aircraft”.

The would-be terrorists plotted to carry on the explosive material and detonating devices disguised as drinks, electronic devices and other “common objects”.