"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear" - George Orwell   
 
Spectre of Terrorism in high security failures at Heathrow
 
The suspicion has been voiced by a number of security experts that there may be a link between the two recent massive robberies at London's Heathrow Airport and the undoubted presence of international terrorist groups in this country. Britain has long been    considered a 'soft-touch' for terrorists and has become a hub of extremist activity, or a 'snake-pit' as one foreign security official claimed recently with its notoriously lax airport security and weak internal controls. It would indeed be understandable if Al Qa'ida or some similar group were to choose it as a natural site for restocking its bank balance.
 
The inability or deliberate unwillingness of successive British administrations to take effective action to prevent or even seriously control illegal immigration has been a god-send for numerous organized crime and terrorist groups. London now serves as an important base for extremists from throughout the Middle East, Balkans, Baltic, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, not to mention the IRA and home grown extreme right-wing groups intent on creating an atmosphere of racial unease and violence throughout Britain.
 
The theft of £4.6 million in February and a further £2 million on the 19th March took place in supposedly secure or 'airside' area's where access is restricted by the use of an electronic swipe card.  Both robberies, it now turns out, are reported to have been carried out by criminals of a Middle Eastern or Asian origin, facts that where not prominently reported at the time on either occasion. Armed robbery is rare amongst the British Asian community and both highly successful raids were carried out with a remarkable lack of resistance even when faced only with knives as in the most recent crime. It would probably be reasonable to assume that a degree of inside assistance and knowledge was made available to the robbers.
 
No one has yet been charged with either crime and Police sources suggest that there are no obvious leads being provided by London's underworld. Nor are there reported to be any signs of unusual activity by those involved in money-laundering activities or unusual spending patterns by those normally associated with such high value crimes. Unless and until there is concrete evidence of normal criminal involvement, the suspicion that these raids were masterminded to finance Islamic terrorism in Britain will continue to grow.
 
The ease with which such large amounts of money were stolen on two occasions so close together is deeply disturbing.It must raise the question that if this does turn out to be a terrorist orientated crime, then the risk of a suicide bomber or a hijacking team gaining access to these and other secure areas must be considerable. It further casts a huge question mark over the security of international airlines, passengers and freight at Britain's premier airport and undermines both the credibility of Mr Blairs policy of delegating so much vital security to private Companies and the overall commitment of the Labour Government to tackle seriously a whole range of related terrorist issues in Britain. Without a shadow of doubt, anyone regularly using a major British airport should be deeply worried at the appalling terrorist implications of these high security failures.
 
Richard M. Bennett

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