Continuing ban on liquids is plane sense; Expert says changing rules are 'confusing'.

Byline: Phil Doherty

RESTRICTIONS on taking liquids on to planes should stay in place, Britain's former counter-terror chief said last night.

Andy Hayman, a former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner who was in charge of the UK's counter-terrorism policy and operations until last year, said changing the rules again would simply create "confusion".

The restrictions were introduced in 2006 after the discovery of a plot to blow up planes using liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks, a plan which could have caused more carnage than the September 11 attacks.

Islamic extremists Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were found guilty of conspiracy to murder by detonating the bombs on airliners this week following the largest ever counter-terrorism operation in the UK.

Mr Hayman said: "My view is that following the disruption that we had in 2006 the public has got drilled into what's expected in view of passenger safety." Speaking about liquid-detecting technology being trialled at Newcastle Airport, as revealed in The Journal earlier this year, he said: "It's my view that to try and go back to what we had just adds to the confusion. What we'd like is to have the technology in place as well as the restrictions, then people know what's expected."

Mr Hayman described yesterday's convictions as "a very good result" but added that it was "bittersweet".

"These people have now been found guilty but now the public is aware of the lengths that people will go to, which is very scary," he said.

The jury failed to reach verdicts on charges relating to four other defendants but Mr Hayman said he did not believe that a second retrial would be "wise".

The police investigation which led to the trial cost more than pounds 35m and the two trials ran up an estimated bill for a further pounds 100m.

Mr Hayman said the price was worth paying if lives were saved as a consequence.

"I remember facing all the survivors and bereaved families of the victims of 7/7 and seeing the pain etched on their faces," he said.

"I don't know how I could stand in front of future victims and say I don't think it was worth the money. I don't think there's a price we can put to this." Gordon Brown paid tribute yesterday to all those involved in the counter-terrorism operation leading to the convictions.

His spokesman said: "The Prime Minister wishes to express publicly his gratitude to the police, security and intelligence agencies and all those involved in the work they did. Their professionalism and dedication prevented lives being lost in this country to terrorism."

The British-born terrorists, controlled and funded by al Qaida masterminds in Pakistan, planned to detonate home-made liquid bombs, concealed within 500ml Oasis or Lucozade bottles, on flights bound for major North American cities.

Ali, 28, of Walthamstow, east London, was inspired by the July 7 bombers and Osama bin Laden and considered taking his baby son on his suicide mission.

Police said the plot was drawn up in Pakistan with detailed instructions passed to Ali during frequent trips to its lawless border with Afghanistan. Surveillance teams watched as the unemployed former shop worker used cash to purchase a pounds 138,000 second-floor flat in Forest Road, Walthamstow, east London. They planted a secret bug which revealed the property had been converted into a bomb factory.

Along with Ali, Sarwar 29, of Walton Drive, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Hussain, 28, of Nottingham Road, Leyton, east London, will be sentenced for the airliner plot on Monday.

The trio were convicted of conspiracy to murder in the first trial last year but retried, along with five other men, for the airliner plot after the first jury failed to reach verdicts on those charges.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on Umar Islam, 31, of Bushey Road, Plaistow, east London, in connection with the airliner plot. But Islam was convicted of conspiracy to murder and will also be sentenced next week.

Adina Ezekiel, for the prosecution, said a decision would be announced on Monday about whether they would seek a re-trial of four other men.

SCANNER TRIAL A NORTH company is at the heart of trials of an airport scanner that can detect liquid explosives in passenger hand luggage.

Kromek, a high-tech company based in the region, has developed a colour x-ray machine that can tell the difference between vodka in a bottle and a clear chemical explosive disguised as the alcohol drink.

The trials by the European Union are being held at undisclosed airports across the UK and other air terminals on the continent. However, it has been reported that Newcastle Airport is part of the test.

If successful, the machines could see the end of restrictions imposed by the EU after the Muslim extremists were caught planning to kill up to ten thousand people in simultaneous explosions on planes using liquid bomb materials. They had disguised the hydro-peroxide in pop bottles.

Arnad Basu, Chief Executive Officer of Kromek, said: "This machine uses colour x-ray technology to look at the entire spectrum of the signature of the liquid inside the bottle.

"If a terrorist tried to disguise hydro peroxide in a pop bottle and used a colour dye as part of the ruse, we would still be able to pick it out as the chemical would have a different signature on the spectrum to a soft drink, even if the visual colour was the same."

Airports are keen to get rid of the restrictions because they have seen long flight delays and mountains of shampoo and other liquid bottles ditched at terminals by customers. Currently, passengers are limited to 100ml containers for liquids on flights.

However, there is concern that the scanners could take too long and add to the time it takes an airport to process passengers by creating false alarms.

CAPTION(S):

IDEA An airport bottle scanner developed by North company Kromek.