Police hold new suspect in UK planes bomb plot

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) British police detained one more person today in connection with last week's alleged plot by suspected Islamist militants to blow up transatlantic airliners.

The arrest takes the number of people held to 24 after police said on Thursday they had foiled a plan to carry out multiple suicide bombings on aircraft bound for the United States using liquid explosives disguised as drinks.

The allegedly planned attacks could potentially have surpassed the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in scale.

British police -- who have been scouring houses in at least three parts of the country -- said they had arrested another suspect in the Thames Valley area in southeastern Britain, where police raided several houses last week.

''The person who was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism is in custody at a police station in the Thames Valley area,'' a police spokeswoman for London's Scotland Yard police headquarters said.

The 23 people already being held are all British-born Muslims, mainly of Pakistani descent. No details were immediately available on the latest person arrested.

Police had been intensively searching woodland around the town of High Wycombe, in the Thames Valley.

One of the houses raided in High Wycombe, according to British media, may have been used by the alleged plotters to mix the chemicals to blow up as many as 10 US-bound aircraft.

The alleged foiled attack caused chaos at Britain's major airports as new security measures were implemented.

Britain yesterday eased a ban on airline cabin baggage as it scaled down the threat level to ''severe'' from the highest level ''critical''.

But passengers continued to suffer major delays today at the height of the holiday season and airlines were still forced to cancel some of their flights as security staff struggled to screen travellers.

Mountains of baggage piled up at Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, left over from last week's chaotic departures. British Airways said it was still trying to clear a backlog of 5,000 bags and deliver them to their owners.

REUTERS SP RAI2343