November 4, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 17, 1422

LONDON, Nov 3: A private airplane was able to circle an important British military site several times without being questioned or stopped, a British newspaper reported Saturday, in an effort to expose the country’s poor security standards amid growing fears of possible terrorist attacks.

The Western Daily Press, a regional paper, hired the private jet and circled it around the Abbey Wood Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) in Bristol at an altitude of 400 metres.

Britian’s ministry of defence (MOD) shrugged off the experiment, saying the DPA was not on its list of potential terrorist targets.

“Abbey Wood has civil servants and a lot of paper — but not much beyond that,” a MOD spokesman said, referring to the facility which employs some 6,000 people, both civilian and military.

“If we have intelligence about incoming aircraft, the Royal Air Force for decades has maintained a rapid reaction air defence all over the UK,” he added.

“That was set up to deal with the threat from Russia in the Cold War, but it is the same for any aircraft with suspect motives and they can react and get into the air within minutes,” he said.

On Friday, the Western Daily press said it had also flown over the Hinckley Point nu-clear power plants without being questioned by authorities.

Fears of terrorist attacks continue to grow, as Britain remains the staunchest ally of the United States in its war against the Taliban.—AFP