Britain has New Arrest in Airline Terror Plot

British police yesterday detained a new suspect in connection with last week's alleged plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic, as France's interior minister said the threat of terrorism remained "high and permanent."

The arrest took the number of people held in Britain to 24 after police said on Thursday they had foiled a plan to carry out multiple suicide bombings on aircraft bound for the United States using liquid explosives disguised as drinks.

The alleged plot by suspected Islamist militants, if followed through, could have surpassed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States in fatalities.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told France 2 television that information France had received from Britain showed the authorities had faced a "serious" and "imminent" threat.

"The (terror) threat is high and permanent. There is absolutely no question of lowering our guard," said Sarkozy, who is due to meet his British counterpart in London today to discuss on-going anti-terror operations.

British police - who are conducting searches in at least three parts of the country - said they had arrested another suspect in the Thames Valley area in southeastern Britain, where officers raided several houses last week. They provided no details of the latest arrest.

The 23 people already being held in Britain are all British-born Muslims, mainly of Pakistani descent.

Police today must get a judge's approval to continue to hold those detained last week. Suspects can be held for up to 28 days without charge under new powers introduced last month.

The Pakistan government said on Friday it had arrested seven people, including two British Muslims of Pakistani descent. One of the Britons, Rashid Rauf, has links to al Qaeda, it said.

A Pakistani intelligence official also said this week authorities were probing two Islamic charities, al Rasheed Trust and al Asar Trust, over a possible financing role.

Authorities were investigating whether money donated in Britain to provide relief to victims of last year's earthquake in Pakistani-held Kashmir had been diverted to fund the alleged plot to blow up the planes, he said.

British police yesterday combed woodland around the town of High Wycombe, in the Thames Valley, for evidence of the alleged plot.

One of the houses raided in High Wycombe, according to British media, may have been used by the alleged plotters to prepare the chemicals intended to blow up as many as 10 U.S.-bound aircraft.

The suspected plot came 13 months after British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport system.

It caused chaos at Britain's major airports as all airline cabin baggage was banned. Britain eased that ban on Monday as it scaled down the threat level to "severe" from "critical."

But passengers continued to suffer major delays yesterday and airlines were still forced to cancel some of their flights.

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