Monday, November 5

London in the terrorist firing line again!

The threat dashboards are all going up a scale. See here:


Businesses in the City of London are being urged by police to report
any suspicious activity, amid concern that further terrorist attacks in the
UK are being planned in the Square Mile.
The new warning comes after it emerged that one of the UK's top five banks
has been forced in recent weeks to order a review of its security
arrangements because of fears that it was being targeted by a terrorist
cell.
The FT has learnt that at the end of August two people escaped arrest
outside the London headquarters of Lloyds TSB in Gresham Street after being identified on what security sources believe may have been a terrorist planning exercise. The individuals were challenged after being seen taking photographs of the building, but ran towards a car and drove away.
A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said on Friday: "We take the security of our
staff and buildings very seriously. We aim to have the best possible
security arrangements in place and to maintain a high level of vigilance at
all times."
While the police subsequently told the bank there was no intelligence to
suggest that its building was a target, the bank confirmed last night that
following the incident it had raised the level of security in all its buildings in London.
The City of London Police on Friday said they could not comment directly on
an alleged incident as a matter of policy. However Frank Armstrong, the
assistant commissioner, confirmed that police were on the look out for
"hostile reconnaissance" and urged businesses to report any similar
sightings. "Hostile reconnaissance" is a well known terrorist tactic whereby a range of potential targets are observed and information gathered prior to a more
specific operation being planned or attack being ordered.
The UK threat level has remained officially unchanged since being lowered
from critical to severe on July 4, meaning that future terrorist attacks are
highly likely but no longer thought to be imminent.
Security in the City of London has been stepped up since the last terrorist
attack-by the IRA-in Bishopsgate in 1993. MI5, the security service, warned earlier this year that terrorist "attack planning" would increase in 2007.


All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

No comments: