Three Foiled Hijack Plots Revealed in U.S. Document [View All]

Al Qaeda terrorists were planning to use cameras to disguise bombs and flash attachments as stun guns in a disrupted hijack plot that targeted the U.S. east coast, Britain, Italy and Australia, U.S. officials say.

The plot was one of three previously unknown al Qaeda hijack plots disrupted before they could be carried out, according to a Department of Homeland Security report obtained by ABC News.

The previously secret plots include one in which "Al-Qa'ida planned to hijack flights departing London's Heathrow Airport and crash them into the airport and a skyscraper in the Canary Wharf financial district of London."

The plot using cameras and flash attachments was foiled in the summer of 2003, according to the report.

Homeland Security officials say it is an example of al Qaeda adapting "to increased aviation security by shifting planned suicide hijackings from domestic carriers to international flights…to take advantage of perceived less effective security screening at some foreign airports."


http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/us_reveals_thre.html