BRITAIN: London's terror spotlight turned on Gatwick Airport yesterday as police arrested a man in possession of a live hand grenade.
However, it seemed clear that the arrest of a 37-year-old Venezuelan who had arrived in Gatwick on a British Airways flight from South America was not related to the intelligence received on Monday which prompted the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to deploy 500 troops and an extra 1,000 police officers at London's Heathrow.
And the search was continuing last night for a suspected Algerian terrorist cell amid security briefings confirming fears of a plot to bring down a civilian aircraft over an urban area, possibly with the use of hand-held rocket launchers previously smuggled into Britain.
Two men were also arrested at Heathrow under the Terrorism Act as the Ministry of Defence confirmed a single Nimrod maritime surveillance aircraft had been flying over London. The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, told MPs that Britain faced "a real and serious threat". The Conservatives forced Mr Blunkett's Commons statement after complaining of "mixed signals" from government ministers about the scale and nature of the threat.
While security was being further tightened at Stansted and Manchester airports, Downing Street insisted there was no need for the public to cancel holidays. This point was echoed by Labour Party chairman Dr John Reid who said people must be "alert but not alarmed" in face of the potential threat from international terrorism. He said people should not "do the terrorists' job for them by making normal life impossible, although precautions needed to be taken to protect individuals".
Hundreds of passengers were trapped aboard aircraft as outbound flights were suspended following the closure of Gatwick's north terminal at 3.30 p.m. Passengers on incoming flights to the north terminal were taken by bus to the south terminal and processed there.
Police confirmed: "A 37-year-old man was arrested under the Terrorism Act by officers from Sussex Police at the airport's north terminal. The man is a Venezuelan national who arrived on a BA flight from Colombia. On arrival at the airport the man's luggage was searched and a suspicious item found. The item has been examined by explosives officers and appears to be a live grenade."
Insp Lloyd Balfour said: "There was no detonation of any explosives whatsoever. There was no injury to any members of the public. The north terminal was evacuated as a precaution."
Mr Blunkett's official spokesman also cautioned against any rush to conclusions about the Gatwick arrest.
"It is not uncommon for people in airports to be discovered with some form of weaponry. It doesn't mean they are all al-Qaeda terrorists," he said.
"People should not jump to conclusions about this incident and people should give police time to assess whether this was anything more than a lone individual carrying something he shouldn't have been."
Speaking later from his Sheffield constituency, Mr Blunkett told the BBC the arrests at Gatwick and Heathrow showed the threat did exist and was not being made up by ministers, as some have suggested.
"Today two people have been taken into custody at Heathrow and a man off a plane at Gatwick, which is quite a separate issue, had been found to have a hand grenade," he said.
"First, it reinforces that we really do have a problem as people have been saying that it doesn't exist.
"Second, it means our security services are on the ball. Third, over the next few days, we need to follow these leads through."