Three held in bomb alert near Gatwick
Last updated at 09:12 19 March 2003
Three suspected terrorists were arrested yesterday after the discovery of two explosive devices in a flat near Gatwick airport.
The discovery sparked a major security alert, with police evacuating the surrounding area.
The three Portuguese men were arrested after the raid in Langley Green, Crawley, which is under the airport's flightpath.
Police were sufficiently concerned to call in army explosive experts, who ordered the immediate evacuation of 25 neighbouring homes.
Late last night the affected families still had not been allowed home and were being put up at a nearby leisure centre.
There was no disruption at Gatwick and flights continued as normal.
Inspector Geoff Sharnock, of Sussex police, said: 'During a routine inquiry two viable improvised explosive devices were found. They are effectively home-made bombs.'
Sussex police are liaising closely with Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch in connection with the find last night. However, officers said it was too early to speculate on a motive for the men's actions.
Inspector Sharnock said the discovery of the bombs was not being linked to any possible target and the men had not yet been linked to any specific terrorist organisation.
The arrests come a month after tanks and soldiers were deployed at Heathrow after intelligence services uncovered a plot to shoot down a civilian airliner.
They also follow the discovery of a grenade in the luggage of a passenger arriving at Gatwick.
Security is now at its highest level yet since 11 September amid fears of a terrorist strike in retaliation for the impending invasion of Iraq.
With British troops preparing for action in Iraq, the country was placed on full-scale terror alert last night.
The race to find potential assassins living in the UK has intensified since comments by Saddam Hussein after last weekend's Azores summit.
In a defiant message, he warned of terror attacks on the West, insisting that Iraq would wage war 'wherever there is sky, earth and water anywhere in the world'.
The terror threat to the UK is currently classed as 'level two'. The next highest is 'imminent' - only reached if police are given the precise time of an attack.
Security sources believe the current threat to the UK is two-fold. First, there is the possibility of a suicide bomb attack in a major city. Senior officers have received detailed guidance on what to do in such an event.
The second concern is of a chemical or biological attack.
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