Bomb plot in OERK/RUH

[Panama Jack]

Rumors and News Section (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1119950#post1119950)

[Captain Sand Dune]

I assume the "light aircraft" were parked on the "GA" side of OERK. When I say "GA", it's really an area set aside for the princes' jet propelled playthings. The only other airfield nearby is OERY and that's military, unless you want to include the ~10,000FT strip about 50KM NE of Riyadh that no-one talks about.
:}
It would be much easier to carry out such an operation outside KSA as not much goes unnoticed in the Magic Kingdom. Someone (probably quite a few people) must have known what was going on.
Glad I'm not there any more.:cool:

[honeybee]

All I can say is that it is still pretty scary in aviation terms because even though as the saudi authorities take all the compliments for finding these terrorists plotting this atrocity it still makes you think - why didn't they find them before september 11th happened??

[mutt]

I suppose that you could also ask that question of the USA.....

Anyway, getting back to the original topic....

JEDDAH, 29 December 2003 — Saudi Arabia yesterday denied a British newspaper report that security forces seized two planes packed with explosives near Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport, foiling a plot to blow up a British Airways jet.

“A Saudi security official said that a report by The Mail on Sunday quoting a British politician as saying that Saudi authorities arrested two suicide pilots who were planning to fly two small planes into a packed British Airways plane is not true,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.

“It is unfortunate that some foreign newspapers have taken to publishing such baseless reports, with the aim of sensationalizing them and showing no sense of the responsibility of the media,” the Saudi official said.

The Mail on Sunday said the suspected suicide pilots were arrested in the last few weeks after they were caught red-handed with aircraft loaded with explosives near the Riyadh airport.

“My understanding is that they were found on the flight line and that the plan was to fly them into a passenger jet, either about to land or take off,” it quoted Patrick Mercer, the opposition Conservative spokesman for Homeland Security, as saying.

Mercer, who said he had been informed of the plot by an “unimpeachable” source, intended to raise the matter at the House of Commons when members return from their Christmas break on Jan. 5, the newspaper reported.

A BA spokesman said the airline had no knowledge of the incident described in the paper. “We are in regular contact with the Saudi authorities and the British government and we wouldn’t fly unless it was completely safe to do so,” a spokesman said. “We haven’t changed our flights to or from Saudi Arabia,” the spokesman added.

BA suspended flights to the Kingdom in August citing a security threat, but the airline resumed flying the following month after a review.

Mercer was not available yesterday to elaborate on his remarks and the British Foreign Office said it was not aware of the incident.


Mutt.

[Oceanic]

“We are in regular contact with the Saudi authorities and the British government and we wouldn’t fly unless it was completely safe to do so,”

BA LHR-RUH flight cancelled at last minute yesterday (31st). All pax checked in and ready to leave. Anything specific causing this last minute cancellation?:confused:

[2daddies]

Was at the hold point 15L in Riyadh last night and heard Cathay being cleared to land. Looking down finals I could see absolutely nothing until at about 400-500 AGL they turned their lights on.

If Cathay feels the need to "go stealth" into Saudi (not to mention BA's noticeable lack of presence) things have got to be bad.

Perhaps we should adopt Denis Leary's policy: "Two words; Nuclear f**king Weapons"! :}

P.S - That was a joke BTW, for those bleeding-heart pro Saudi liberalists. J-O-K-E! :E