Police silent on 'bomb kit' report

Philip Johnston
The Telegraph
Aug. 18, 2006

Police investigating the alleged plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic have reportedly found a suitcase described last night as a potential ''bomb kit."

There was no confirmation from Scotland Yard of a BBC report suggesting the bag contained items that could be used to construct a device able to bring down a plane.

Detectives have been given another seven days to question 21 suspects arrested in London, the Midlands and in the Thames Valley. They have five days in which to detain a further two before applying for an extension. No one has been charged.

Police have conducted dozens of searches of business and homes and have spent days combing King's Wood, near High Wycombe, Bucks, looking for evidence.

The BBC reported a source as saying that they had found a case which contained "everything you would need to make an improvised device".

Earlier this week, John Reid, the Home Secretary, said that police had reported the discovery of ''substantial material".

• A man, aged 47, and a woman, 44, both originally from Algeria, are being held under the Terrorism Act after being arrested at Holyhead, Anglesey in north Wales.

One of them arrived on a ferry from Dublin last Friday.

Clive Wolfendale, the deputy chief constable of North Wales, emphasised that the arrests were not directly linked to the alleged airports plot.