UK police seek extra time to quiz bomb suspects

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) Police will seek more time today to question suspects in the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, as it emerged a 12-year-old boy with no documents had managed to board a plane at Gatwick.

Detectives must apply to extend the detention warrants for 23 of the 24 suspects arrested since police said they had foiled a plan to carry out suicide bombings on planes bound for the United States using liquid explosives disguised as drinks.

The 23 people are all British-born Muslims, mainly of Pakistani descent. Police can hold suspects for up to 28 days before either charging or releasing them.

Also today, Home Secretary John Reid is due to meet EU counterparts to discuss the plot and ongoing operations.

One of those attending the meeting in London is French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who has said the threat of terrorism remained ''high and permanent''.

''There is absolutely no question of lowering our guard,'' said Sarkozy.

Meanwhile the massive police investigation in Britain continues. Detectives said they had already executed 46 search warrants, with 22 of those searches continuing and another 20 vehicles examined.

Officers are still combing woodland around the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire for evidence. One house in the town, according to British media, may have been used by the suspected plotters to mix chemicals to blow up as many as 10 US-bound aircraft.

The chaos at Britain's major airports has begun to ease slightly after the ban on all airline cabin baggage was relaxed to allow passengers to carry a small bag on board, although it is still forbidden to take liquids on board planes.

However passengers continued to suffer major delays and airlines were still being forced to cancel some of their flights because of the extra security measures.

British Airways said it planned to operate 90 per cent of its schedule today but will cancel 46 flights from Heathrow and Gatwick.

It is also trying to deal with a backlog of 5,000 bags which are waiting to be returned to their owners.

However, despite the high level of alert, airport operator BAA said a 12-year-old boy with no documents had managed to get on board a plane at Gatwick.

The boy had run away from a care home in Merseyside and boarded a plane for Lisbon at 6 a.m. on Monday before the other passengers, according to media reports.

However, he was spotted by cabin crew who alerted the police.

''The boy had passed through our full security screening process so he had passed through the search process and I'm confident there was no threat at any stage to passengers and staff or to the aircraft,'' a BAA spokesman told BBC radio.

He added a full investigation was under way.

REUTERS SKU KP1352