No bail for suspects in air plot

LONDON -- Eleven suspects accused of plotting to blow up US-bound airliners appeared in court under heavy security yesterday, as a magistrate ordered them held without bail in what investigators say will be a months-long investigation spanning the Atlantic.

Making their first public appearance since a massive police dragnet swept up two dozen suspects from all over London and Birmingham earlier this month, the detainees filed into court in pairs and sat impassively in a glassed-in dock as the magistrate made his rulings. Eight of the men are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism, and the three others face lesser charges.

The suspects appeared relaxed, but made no comments except to state their names and dates of birth.

In a case that has raised Britain's security alert to its highest-ever levels, few of the defendants even applied for bail. One exception was 24-year-old Cossar Ali, whose lawyer pleaded with the court to allow her to return to her 8-month-old child.

``The reality is that the last 10 days have been the first time in her life and the life of her child that they have been separated," said her lawyer, David Gottlieb.

Ali sat quietly in the dock and showed no emotion as the judge ordered her held for at least another week.

Prosecutors allege that Ali had information about the purported plans of her husband, codefendant Abdullah Ali Ahmed Khan, to commit an act of terrorism and failed to disclose it to authorities.

Under British court rules, detailed discussion of the charges or defendants' substantive arguments for release on bail, or the judge's reasons for denying it, cannot be reported.

Many of the eight primary suspects were ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing Sept. 4. Authorities are to make a decision by today on whether to file charges, release, or seek further temporary detention for 11 additional suspects also still in custody.

Meanwhile, investigators continued the process of poring through hundreds of telephone records and massive quantities of computer storage data in an attempt to draw links between suspects in Britain and up to 17 others in custody in Pakistan.

Authorities for the moment have not identified any possible coconspirators within the United States, but are exhaustively tracking communications across the Atlantic to identify potential connections, an American diplomat said.