250 British cops raid suspected chemical bomb-making factory (Report: It was a chemical suicide vest — and it’s missing)
posted at 9:28 am on June 2, 2006 by Allahpundit
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***See below for chemical-vest update.***
Sky News uses the C-word: “Police are not expecting to find conventional weapons. They are looking to find chemical ingredients of some kind.”
They had “specific intelligence” following months of surveillance, according to BBC sources. The search of the house will apparently take days. One of the residents was shot in the shoulder and taken to the hospital, where he was arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
Is Sky sure they were looking for chemical weapons? The report from Australia’s Sunday Times includes an ominous detail:
Police said the operation followed close liaison between security services and the Health Protection Agency, a body charged with guarding against infectious diseases…
Officers wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection were sent to the scene in the ethnically mixed Forest Gate area of the capital while nearby roads were cordoned off.
The BBC article says the latter was a “precautionary” measure. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times quotes one neighbor as saying the family that lives in the house is … “very religious.” As the man says: Heh. Indeed.
Sky has photos. Standby for more details.
Update: Worth re-reading.
Update: The Guardian talks to the neighbors.
Dimple Hirani, a 21-year-old student, described how the two brothers had started to wear traditional dress and gowns recently. She told Guardian Unlimited, “There is nothing unusual about that but it did strike me that they had changed.”…
Kaisar Hussain … said, “They were targeted because they were young black brothers. It is traditional that in this country you cannot have jihad.”
Mr Mahmood described how both “brothers”, who had become more observant after 9/11, worshipped at the mosque just around the corner from Lansdown Road.
Update: The Independent says police have put up two tents outside the front of the house. And they quote another neighbor: “They were really nice lads and really nice people. I never thought anything of it. Lots of young Muslims these days are getting more religious, especially after 9/11. It’s nothing to be suspicious about.”
Update: Getty has photos from Lansdown Road.
Update: Meanwhile, in Pakistan…
Update: Like some of the British papers, the Times leads with the fact that the police shot a man, not with the, y’know, suspected chemical weapons factory.
But here’s a fun excerpt:
Sky News broadcast what it said was an interview with two friends of the man who was shot. They were not identified, and they spoke with their backs to the camera, their heads covered and their faces hidden. One of the men prefaced the interview by reciting a Koranic verse…
The police conducted the raid, the man said, because “they want to give us Muslims a bad name.”
Update: The good people of the UK’s Muslim Public Affairs Committee respond predictably: by calling for Muslims to “wake up and rise” against the police who perpetrated this ghastly anti-terrorist raid.
Update: Perfect timing from Iqbal Sacranie.
Update: Meryl Yourish tips me to a report in the Times of London that the cops were looking for a chemical suicide vest. And … they can’t find it.
Police fear that the strike, using a home-made chemical device, was imminent after an informant told MI5 that he had seen the lethal garment at the home of two young men…
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said that … there had been no time to conduct further surveillance, which suggests that the police believed a terrorist was close to launching an attack. The fear is that if chemicals were to be used then a likely target could be a train compartment on the London Underground.
Another theory is that a suicide attacker, wearing the vest under a shirt, could trigger the device in a crowded venue, such as a bar full of people watching an England World Cup match.
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“Nothing to get suspicious about” when Muslim men start dressing the part, saying “Allah Akbar” a lot and begin making bombs? Hmmm. Glad I don’t live next door to them, so I don’t have anything to get suspicious about either.
Probably just a case of innocent racial bombmaker profiling.
clyde on June 2, 2006 at 10:06 AM
Actually I’d rather live close to them than far away. Chances are you’re safer if they don’t blow themselves up. I would put up a video camera with a zoom lens and give the information to the authorities.
cwcsquared on June 2, 2006 at 10:10 AM
Nothing to be suspicious about?
NONSENSE!
I am suspicious of ALL Muslims!
Not a single Muslim anywhere has renounced the 9-11 treacherous sneak attack. NOT ONE!
They are ALL thus suspects and ALL subject to suspicion.
ForYourEdification on June 2, 2006 at 10:22 AM
That’s a bald-faced lie about 9/11, FYE.
Allahpundit on June 2, 2006 at 10:23 AM
Oh, nothing to be suspicious about huh? 7/7 was just the beginning of the jihad in Englandistan.
Good work today Mates, but keep it up, you’ll be fighting the enemy within for many years to come.
This war is being fought in the train stations of Europe, the resort towns of Australia, the schools of Russia and the courtrooms of Canada, etc. The West needs to wake up and realize that the enemy is already inside the gates and using our freedoms against us. What will it take for the rest of the world to join us in the war? A nuclear attack?
Will the worldwide leftist movement cheer when that nuke destroys a Western capital? Will they rush to join the enemy? Is that why they appease the iranian anti-Christ?
Vote Republican, even if they tick you off on one issue or another, because only America can lead the war on terror and that will only happen if the ‘Pubs are in charge. If the Dhimmicrats take over America, islam will take over the world.
Condi ‘08
Tony737 on June 2, 2006 at 10:24 AM
“Bald-faced lie?”
More accurate, if you are correct, might be “misstatement.”
Please specifically state which Muslim group or individuals have formally and publicly refuted that attack, and when.
TO MY KNOWLEDGE, none have.
ForYourEdification on June 2, 2006 at 10:32 AM
Heh I see everybody so far has said much what I would have. My only question is how can these morons (the neighbors) be THAT STUPID??!?! Were they simply born without brains or did they have them surgically excised to greater improve their ability to act like total idiots?
Though I do have to admit there are at least a few muslims that don’t support the 9/11 attacks, far FAR too many buy into the propaganda that it was a “zionist” conspiracy or somesuch baloney. While a very small number (or at least a very small VISIBLE number) may be smart enough to realize that is was islamic terrorism and not a conspiracy, IMO not nearly enough do. Until 95%+ are publically and loudly denouncing it, some religious and racial profiling is LONG overdue… and 100% acceptable.
RH
RobertHuntingdon on June 2, 2006 at 10:32 AM
Good for the British authorities- now let’s hope the British legal system won’t turn them all loose again.
Abigail Adams on June 2, 2006 at 10:52 AM
This is unbelievable to me. Nothing to be suspicious about! wow. I do understand the desire to put your head in the sand and ignore the signs… but the desire to ignore and the need to respond aren’t compatible. I’d like to ignore the reality, but I can’t afford to.
Closer to home… in response to Tony737–Condi!?!? Are Republicans SERIOUS about this??? I think she’s a horrendous choice. The candidate for ‘08 needs to be far removed from Bush… and she’s not.
Leiren on June 2, 2006 at 11:09 AM
I agree leiren. Tancredo would be much better, assuming he can get together a winning team. Maybe he can have Condi as his VP to buy a few of the airhead votes who will just vote for them because one of the candidates happens to be black. But only if he can’t find somebody better. Frankly I’d prefer Colin Powell for that strategy tho, at least with him we’d get an honest man who stands up for what he believes. I’m not too sure Rice does.
RH
RobertHuntingdon on June 2, 2006 at 11:31 AM
Condi, God bless her, is the wrong choice. Tancredo would be a great choice.
BirdEye on June 2, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Congressman Tancredo, (R-Colo.), a leader of the anti-illegal immigration movement, a former history teacher, has almost alone in Congress bothered to begin to investigate what Islam teaches. For this he deserves the support of everyone, and everything possible should be done to help elect him . Not one to mince words or play PC politics, he deserves to be supported to the hilt, in any possible way.
heroyalwhyness on June 2, 2006 at 12:51 PM
“Islam is a peaceful religion” according to GWB
Tancredo for President
ScottyDog on June 2, 2006 at 12:59 PM
“Bald-faced lie?”
More accurate, if you are correct, might be “misstatement.”
Would you settle for ignorant, ridiculous, overgeneralizing speculation?
Try King Abdullah (Jordan), Mansour Ijaz, Kamal Nawash… There’s quite a list, should you bother to acnowledge that the existence of such people is possible.
For that matter the Saudis, who are on al-Qaeda’s list, officially renounces them and their acts.
Pablo on June 2, 2006 at 1:04 PM
“The police conducted the raid, the man said, because “they want to give us Muslims a bad name.””
Like bin Laden hadn’t already covered that base.
THeDRiFTeR on June 2, 2006 at 2:43 PM
Leiren, I believe Condi is the most likely to continue the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption, it was her idea for all we know. This war is gonna last a long time and I want somebody in there who’ll fight it. I also believe that if not Condi then ANY Pubbie is a better choice than ANY dhimmicrat. No potential candidate is perfect on every issue, but she is the best choice during this war. It doesn’t end with Iraq. We still have iran and syria to deal with. I don’t trust McCain or Rudy etc enough to handle this war for the next 8 years. We don’t want our future generations facing east and praying to mecca 5 times a day. I am not knocking Tancredo or anybody else, I like him by the way, I just think Rice is the choice during wartime. She appears to be softening up since taking her new post at State, but that’s her job. Talk nice while Rummy works on target aquisition. Then she can go back to being the Velvet Hammer again. Hello B-2’s, buh-bye iranian nukes.
Tony737 on June 2, 2006 at 3:10 PM
I agree with Tony. The War on Terror REQUIRES someone in the White House who fully understand the global battlefield involved. Out of ALL other choices who truly have a shot, she’s the only one truly qualified in this regard.
Want to go back to the Clinton methodolgy for this??
Mike O on June 2, 2006 at 4:00 PM
On the Iranian nuke issue; you know, we have some brand -new 28,000 pound bunker busters that have not had a real field test yet… Supposed to penetrate 200 feet or more and the Iranian centrifuges are 75 feet down…
Mike O on June 2, 2006 at 4:04 PM
I loved the response by a Brit journalist covering this affair this morning on Fox…
When asked about how unusual it was that a man was actually shot by the police in a country where the police force is unarmed, the journalist replied, “Yes, well the police only show up with arms when there are significant indications that the suspects might actually be armed themselves”!
Lovely… how the hell do you tell THAT ahead of time? Just think, if us Bloody Colonials could master this technique, we could also be unarmed and “safe”!
In the spirit of a proper Brit policeman…
“STOP! I say, or I shall say STOP again!”
ROFLMAO!!
horsepower_1st on June 2, 2006 at 4:27 PM
Maybe we should “test” a few hundred of them then… :)
RH
RobertHuntingdon on June 2, 2006 at 4:28 PM
Horsepower
If you continue to walk away from that bank with money and shoot at us during your escape I’ll be forced to issue another warning and say “or else” at the end of it.
When did I get transported into Demolition man? I guess that means I got fined seven bucks for all the cursing I just did
Defector01 on June 2, 2006 at 5:17 PM
That London Times story is fascinating. It goes out of its way not to identify the suspect, only to describe him this way late in the story:
A 24-year-old man, who declined to be named, said that he was a “distant cousin” of the victim.
“…the victim.” Because police shot him in a raid that was intended to stop him from killing innocent civilians with a chemical weapon. That’s stretching the definition of “victim” mighty far.
Bryan on June 2, 2006 at 8:24 PM
I don’t know if FYE was intentionally lying when he said
“Not a single Muslim anywhere has renounced the 9-11 treacherous sneak attack”
but he is falling into a normal over-generalization in a way most people have done, when the vast majority of events and experiences go a certain way.
First, there was a lot of celebrating world wide in that community over 911 that was highly publicized. Second, the level of outrage and reaction by non Muslim Americans was massive, while the public reaction of muslims in america was highly tempered. We saw people getting in their cars and driving hundreds of miles to help in New York, but we didn’t see caravans of help from Muslims in America.
So an impression was easily formed that, well, they weren’t outraged. For instance, I did not see the type of emotionalism and picketing I see in local anti-Isreal demonstrations. Or the rage in the islamic anti defamation groups when they sense prejudice. I didn’t see tears.
The Saudi royal family is officially anti Bin Laden as Bin Laden considers them apostates. However, there are high level members of that family who are pro Bin Laden.
The Saudi government doesn’t speak for all their citizens who feed the terror networks and the insurgency in Iraq with volunteers.
The creepiest semantic game I saw after 911 was the ‘innocent victims’ line. I heard this one from a local mosque candlelight ceremony for 911 bictims where the spokesman emphasized his faith does not approve the killing of the innocent. That is a phrase I heard repeated many times.
There is a famous video of Bin Laden from somewhere in Afghanistan discussing 911 with a visiting sheik. They laugh together and Bin Laden remarked that the families of those who are not innocent, are themselves not innocent.
Not all Muslims interpret things this way, but in the extreme segment, the children, wives, and associates of those who are not innocent, are themselves not innocent.
Muslims are prohibited from klling the innocent, but the catch is in the definition of the word.
So a spokeman can go forth and condemn the killing of innocents, without lying, because he knows they were guilty by association. Whenever I hear that phrasing, my antenna go up.
In summary, give FYE a break. No one can say ‘everyone’. However, he is right that the reaction was not what we normally see when Muslims are outraged as a group.
entagor on June 2, 2006 at 9:14 PM
Hey Defector, great analogy to Demolition Man. “…and this time add the words ‘or else’.” haha
Sandra “Now let’s go down there and BLOW this guy!”
Stallone “AWAY! Blow this guy AWAY!”
Tony737 on June 3, 2006 at 12:05 AM
In summary, give FYE a break. No one can say ‘everyone’. However, he is right that the reaction was not what we normally see when Muslims are outraged as a group.
No, of course it wasn’t and no one has suggested that it was. But that’s very a very different thing than the “NOT ONE of them has renounced 9/11″ comment which is factually wrong, and was presented with, well…caps lock. It’s an insult to those whose identify as muslims and truly want to see this idiotic jihadi violence end. Hell, it’s a denial of their very existence!
Let’s keep this place rational, shall we?
Pablo on June 3, 2006 at 9:07 AM
So, is the free world ever going to wake up and admit that the religion of Islam actually is what we try to believe it not to be? It oppresses women, it murders it’s own in the supposed name of “honor”(and then, the murdered person was often the victim in the first place), it seeks to murder or enslave not only anyone who doesn’t worship it, but even those who don’t worship it in necessarily the “correct”(read ultimately radical) way.
It’s like the faulty liberal mind refuses to believe the obvious truth, instead rather believing what it wants to believe about anything and everything. It wants to believe that Islam is a “religion of peace”, just with a few bad apples, when it has never actually taken the time to study the religion in order to realize that the only people actually practicing it in full are those we would call “terrorists”.
Britain is filled with these faulty liberal minds. They have waged war on their own people(subjects) for years by waging a war on legal guns and knives that they foolishly, while disregarding the obvious truth, still believe will lead to a peaceful utopia of some sort.
Not only are we blind to the past and bound to relive it, we seem even virtually blind to the present, so we merrily wander down the road to oblivion like little lemmings heading for the cliff.
Again, where are the real patriots in Washington DC who are able to see around the rose colored glasses that liberal lies wear and actually do what needs to be done, no, what MUST be done Constitutionally speaking, no matter how much the thieves, liars, seditionists, and traitors scream and yell about it?
NRA4Freedom on June 3, 2006 at 12:53 PM
“The police conducted the raid, the man said, because “they want to give us Muslims a bad name.””
Yes, play the race OR the victim card. They have the West quite pegged, haven’t they?
Lady Heather on June 3, 2006 at 11:12 PM
Seems to me that their are several wars going on here.
The war on terror turns out to be a sympton of the war waged by the far left on every one else.
The far left is blind to the real world. In their world they ignore everything that may occlude their principles. This myopic view point is deadly, especially since they espouse tolerance, compassion, and peace. (Their is a wide gulf between what they say those things mean, and what they really think, but I don’t want to write an encyclopedia sized post dscribing it all)
Suffice to say, the far left will apologise for everything the radical muslim will do, and blame pressures from the west as the cause. Isreal goes up in an Iranian mushroom cloud? It was the wests fault.
2,300 New Yorkers are killed in a bio attack in the subway? The west caused it by supporting Isreal. No matter what happens, the far left can not be woekn up. The one thing they are incapable of doing is admitting they were wrong. They were against us joining WW2. That changed after it became such a popular victory, and they co-opted it.
They were against Vietman. When they forced us out over a million Cambodians and Vietnamese are murdered but they ignored it. It clashed with their sense of rightousness.
And now, when the many Muslims believe that the missing Imman is to appear in the next few years to create the worldwide Caliphate the left ignores the signs and works to hobble those that would prevent it.
You can not wake the far left up. If the caca really hits the fan and Iran nukes Isreal, India and Pakistan begin glowing, Muslims worldwide seriously start rioting and attacking the west then you will see the near left wake up. But not the far left. Eventually we will either loose this war, in which most of those who read this board will be dead, or we will win it and the far left will be marginalized for the next 50 years. Either way they will never wake up.
Wyrd on June 4, 2006 at 10:11 AM
Called a cousin of mine in London, ALOT of people in Britain are really worried about this. The tunnel and bus bombings really sunk into peoples’ minds and if this thing goes off it’ll have disasterous results!
Defector01 on June 4, 2006 at 10:39 PM
NRA4Freedom , you found the phrase that says it best: “rose-colored glasses”.
Top many events occured immediately after 911 that did not meet the rose-colored scenario. In that week, I was at home, glued to the television. In one interview with national leaders of muslim rights organizations in the US, I heard many now familiar comments, including the nefarious ‘of course we condemn the killing of innocents’ phrase. At the end of the program the commentator asked one islamic leader if he had anything to say to his people in the audience. The man turned to the camera and said to his people “remember, you have the right to remain silent. you do not have to say anything”.
entagor on June 5, 2006 at 8:36 AM
Answer to an above poster…”are these morons born without brains..?” Nope….they are inbred…note the crossed eyes and the thought processes. IMHO, it would take a real inbreed to send a child, or anyone you cared about, into a crowd strapped with a fully loaded bomb. Brains…they are born with those…it is the gentic line that is in question here.
Sandys Beach on June 5, 2006 at 7:01 PM