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Police: Live grenade found in London airport arrestTwo men also detained near Heathrow
LONDON, England (CNN) -- With authorities on heightened alert for terrorist attacks, police Thursday arrested a Venezuelan man with a live grenade in his luggage soon after he arrived at Gatwick Airport, prompting the north terminal of Britain's second busiest airport to be evacuated, authorities said. The incident was one of two airport security scares Thursday; near Heathrow Airport, authorities arrested two men under Britain's Terrorism Act as a precaution, but further details were not released. In the Gatwick incident, the 37-year-old man was arrested after his luggage was searched and the grenade was found. He had arrived at the airport aboard a British Airways flight from Bogota, Colombia, via Caracas, Venezuela. "The item has been examined by explosives officers, and it appears to be a live grenade," Scotland Yard said in a statement. The man was taken into custody under Britain's Terrorism Act and transferred to Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist detectives for questioning. The Metropolitan Police will be leading the investigation. Gatwick's north terminal remains closed, with incoming flights being diverted to the south terminal, which continues to operate normally. The developments came hours after Home Secretary David Blunkett told the House of Commons that Britain faces "a real and serious threat," especially to the country's transportation infrastructure. "We know that al Qaeda will try to inflict loss of human life and damage upon the United Kingdom," he said. Sussex police said they evacuated Gatwick's north terminal Thursday afternoon due to security concerns. Police combed the terminal and set up roadblocks outside, and all outgoing flights were canceled. Officials later said a man had been arrested under Britain's Terrorism Act. The primary carrier of the north terminal is British Airways. Incoming flights were continuing, as were outgoing flights from the south terminal. Gatwick is London's second busiest airport and the sixth busiest international airport in the world, according to its Web site. It handles about 40 million passengers annually, the site said. Security has been significantly increased at British airports in recent days, most noticeably at Heathrow, where tanks, armored military vehicles and hundreds of troops have taken up position in and around Europe's busiest airport. Heathrow serves about 64 million passengers a year, according to its Web site. British officials have faced criticism in recent days for not being more forthcoming about the nature of the threats. British news reports have said the threats may relate to an al Qaeda missile attack on a plane similar to the one attempted by al Qaeda terrorists in Kenya last year. In that attack, two shoulder-fired missiles were fired at an Israeli airliner but missed. The Metropolitan Police has said it is possible al Qaeda would use the end of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday to mount attacks and that the heightened security "relates to a potential threat to the capital." British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended the way the government has handled the threats Thursday, saying releasing specific information could undermine police efforts. "We cannot and shouldn't start disclosing details of everything we know or may know," Blair said.
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