British judge OK's longer custody of 23 plane-plot suspects

LONDON -- A district judge ruled yesterday that British investigators have until next week to investigate the suspects arrested in an alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 trans-Atlantic jetliners, saying they could be kept in custody without charge.

It was the first major test of a new terrorism law that lets suspects be held for as long as 28 days without charge so that investigators can solidify their cases.

The hearing, which addressed the cases of 23 suspects arrested in Britain's initial sweep last week, was held behind closed doors and attended only by the suspects' lawyers, investigators, and government officials.

Scotland Yard said 21 of the suspects could be detained for questioning through next Wednesday while two others could be detained until Monday. No reason was given for the difference in the length of time. The final suspect, who was arrested Tuesday, was not involved in the hearing, Scotland Yard said, adding that he remained police custody.

Legal specialists say the primary reason that police could need nearly a month to complete a probe is the complexity of investigations into the alleged plot to smuggle liquid explosives hidden in hand luggage aboard flights.

``You've got laptops, you have to bring in translators to translate all the documents in there, and sometimes it's inopportune to release all your suspects -- particularly terrorism suspects -- while all that is being downloaded and translated," said Cliff Knuckey, a retired police detective who has worked on terrorism investigations.

``Terrorism investigations are different, simply because you're dealing with people who will do their best not to compromise their plans and who will do anything not to be compromised."

When police officials appeared in February before a House of Commons committee looking at Britain's antiterror legislation, they told lawmakers much the same thing. And Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, who commands the antiterrorist police branch, said officers had found terrorist training videos spliced in the middle of Hollywood films, meaning hours spent scrutinizing videotapes.

Previously, police were able to detain people suspected of terrorism offenses for 14 days only. But the new legislation, which became law earlier this year, also created new offenses, including preparing a terrorist act, giving or receiving terrorist training, and selling or spreading terrorist publications.

Prime Minister Tony Blair did not receive parliamentary approval for his own plan to interrogate terrorist suspects for up to 90 days.

The British probe of a plot to destroy US-bound jetliners with chemical explosions is the highest-profile case to be conducted under the new legislation.

Home Secretary John Reid, Britain's chief law-and-order official, acknowledged that some of the suspects would probably not be charged with major criminal offenses, but said there was mounting evidence of a ``substantial nature" to back the allegations.

He made the comments after he met with the French, German, and Finnish interior ministers -- Nicolas Sarkozy, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and Kari Rajamaki, respectively -- as well as Franco Frattini, vice president of the European Union Commission . They later announced the allocation of $235,000 to research the best ways to detect liquid-based explosives.

Twenty-four suspects have been arrested in Britain in the liquid explosives plot and as many as 17 people in Pakistan, including alleged ringleader Rashid Rauf, a British national. Rauf's 22-year-old brother, Tayib, is among those in British custody.

Two top Pakistani intelligence agents said yesterday that the would-be bombers wanted to carry out an Al Qaeda-style attack to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 strikes, but were too ``inexperienced" to carry out the plot.

Meanwhile, air service nudged closer to normal at major London airports, but British Airways said it canceled 35 flights from Heathrow and 11 others at Gatwick.