RE: Heathrow T2 evacuated Breaking News !
BAA, which operates Heathrow airport, said part of Terminal Two had been evacuated on Friday morning, after police investigated a suspect bag.
A spokesman said the evacuation began at 1120 GMT on Friday and would cause delays to flights serving some European destinations.
Police are continuing to carry out checks on motorists in Langley.
Pairs of officers were stationed at checkpoints at various points in the town.
Grenade alert
Meanwhile, flights are gradually getting back to normal at Gatwick, following the shutdown of one of the airport’s terminals after a hand grenade was found in a passenger’s luggage.
A 37-year-old Venezuelan national is still being questioned by anti-terrorism police after being caught trying to smuggle the live grenade through customs.
The north terminal has since reopened, although some flights have been cancelled in knock-on effects from Thursday’s disruption.
Irate passengers stuck at Gatwick
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Police say it is believed the man is from Caracas in Venezuela, not – as some media outlets have reported – from Bangladesh.
Thousands of passengers had to stay at the airport or at local hotels overnight, after 21 outgoing flights were cancelled and many more disrupted as experts dealt with the grenade.
Many of the passengers were irate at the lack of information they had been given, calling the handling of the five-hour shutdown a “shambles”.
With heightened security, long queues were tailing back on Friday at the North Terminal’s departure gates.
But Julie Coppin, 47, from Brentwood, Essex, said she was happy to queue for a little longer.
She said: “It’s what should be done all the time anyway. I think there should be more security.”
Something suspicious
British Airways said a further 10 inbound flights to the North Terminal and one outbound, the 0750 GMT to Luxembourg, had been cancelled on Friday.
A spokeswoman said most of the cancelled flights were short-haul flights from destinations such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.
The man arrived in Britain on British Airways flight 2048 from Caracas in Venezuela at about 1323 GMT.
Customs said he was stopped in the “nothing to declare” channel, after an official saw “something suspicious” in his bag.
Heathrow security
A huge security operation is continuing at London’s other major airport, Heathrow, for the fourth day on Friday.
The Heathrow operation, including hundreds of troops and more than 1,000 police officers, was sparked by MI5 intelligence that a group was plotting to shoot down an aircraft.
Two men, separate from the arrests in Langley, were arrested under the Terrorism Act near the airport on Thursday, but police said they were held as a “precautionary measure”.
They were still being questioned on Friday.
Ministers have angrily denied the Heathrow operation – which at one point involved tanks and other armoured vehicles – was a publicity stunt ahead of a war against Iraq.
At Stansted Airport the access road was closed to the public from 0400 GMT to 0900 GMT on Friday due to increased security measures.
However, it has since reopened.
Police and airport authorities said it was not because of a specific threat.
Extra police have also been drafted in at other airports, including Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Jersey.
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