Thursday, September 17, 2009

Times : The airline bomb plot in numbers

The airline bomb plot in numbers

Sean O'Neill, Crime and Security Editor | September 7, 2009

The plot

386A - address of bomb factory on Forest Road, Walthamstow

£138,000 - purchase price of flat July 2006

7 - flights targeted for mid-air attack:

14.15 United Airlines Flight 931 to San Francisco

15.00 Air Canada Flight 849 to Toronto

15.15 Air Canada Flight 865 to Montreal

15.40 United Airlines Flight 959 to Chicago

16.20 United Airlines Flight 925 to Washington

16.35 American Airlines Flight 139 to New York

16.50 American Airlines Flight 91 to Chicago

2,000 - potential death toll in the air

5,000 - estimated death toll if planes crashed on cities

8 - defendants

20 - number of bombs they planned to make

500ml - size of bottles to be used for liquid bombs

100ml - current limit on liquids allowed in hand luggage

The investigation

26,066 exhibits seized

102 searches conducted

142 interviews with the defendants

9,710 witness statements taken

5 countries visited: Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, Mauritius, Belgium

800 computers and devices examined (226 from internet cafes)

15,000 CDs and DVDs seized

500 floppy disks seized

14,000 gigabytes of computer storage space examined

28 surveillance teams

£8 million - cost to Thames Valley of policing woodland while it was searched for explosives

£38 million cost to Met

2 trials