News

After a warning this year from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, about vehicle-borne weaponry, extended security checks are being carried out on vehicles on key routes into London. Vehicles to be targeted include petrol and chemical tankers, cement mixers and others that could easily be used by suicide bombers.

The anti-terrorism move is an addition to Operation Mermaid, launched in 2006, in which trucks are checked to ensure they are roadworthy and their loads are safe.  Last year an Al-Qaeda terrorist was convicted for planning vehicle-borne attacks in London, and petrol tankers have been successfully hijacked and blown up in Baghdad.

Figures published by the Metropolitan Police Service Traffic Unit show the last operation resulted in:

• 78 vehicles being stopped in total
• 2 arrests for driving while disqualified
• 28 vehicles being prohibited for having some form of defect making them dangerous to be driven
• 4 vehicles being processed for being above the safe working load limit
• 5 vehicles being seized