'UK foiled plot against London-US flight'
AFP, New York
A US television network reported Wednesday that British police foiled a plot to blow up a jet on a Britain-US flight with the arrest last week of a suspected Muslim radical. Sajid Badat, a 24-year-old British Muslim, was charged in London on Wednesday with conspiring to cause an explosion with "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who is in jail in the United States for trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight in 2001. CBS television quoted unnamed sources as saying that British police had "foiled a a plot to blow up an airliner en route from London's Heathrow Airport to the US." The report gave other details of the plot. Badat, one of 23 suspects arrested during raids in England over the past week, was charged under British anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to cause an explosion in Britain "or elsewhere", police said. British police did not reveal details of the planned explosion or whether it was related to Reid's attempt to blow up a US plane. Badat was also charged with two counts of possessing explosive materials. He is to appear in court on Thursday. A US court sentenced Reid to life jail last year for an attempt on December 22, 2001 to blow up a Paris-Miami flight using plastic explosives hidden in his shoes.
| 
