US plane with arms lands in UK

2006-07-30 08:03

Danica Kirka

London - A US-chartered plane carrying hazardous cargo bound for Israel landed in Scotland to refuel, officials said, amid a political firestorm over the transport of missiles to the Jewish state during its bombing campaign in Lebanon.

The aircraft landed Saturday, less than a day after a spokesperson for Prime Minister Tony Blair said US President George W Bush apologised for two earlier flights that stopped at Prestwick airport, near Glasgow, Scotland, and had failed to declare they were carrying missiles to Tel Aviv.

Britain's civil aviation authorities confirmed Saturday's flight - and a second scheduled for Sunday - had permission to carry hazardous materials, but didn't say what specifically was aboard.

Last week, The New York Times reported that the Bush administration was rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel after receiving a request.

Speaking during a visit to San Francisco, Blair denied Britain had acted inappropriately by allowing the flights to pass through its airspace.

"What happens at Prestwick Airport is not going to determine whether we get a cease-fire in the Lebanon," Blair told Britain's Sky News in an interview.

He said procedures to regulate the flights were being followed and dismissed critics who have called for a ban on US military aircraft landing on British airfields.

"If what people are saying is that we should impose an arms embargo on Israel or indeed on the US, I think that would be very curious indeed," he told BBC television.

A Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson said the flights on Saturday and Sunday were bound to Tel Aviv from Texas and confirmed special exemption permits had been requested and granted for the cargos.

He said he could not disclose whether Saturday's flight had departed for Israel.

" They are hazardous material flights - the items that they are carrying are understood to be of a dangerous nature," said the spokesperson, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The authority is investigating whether Washington applied for similar exemptions to carry hazardous material on two chartered Airbus A310 cargo planes that refueled at Glasgow's Prestwick airport last weekend.

Officials are checking claims that those planes carried 28 GBU28 laser-guided missiles.

Several hundred demonstrators are expected to gather at Prestwick airport on Sunday to protest the use of British airspace to ferry weapons from the US to Israel.

Associated Press Writer Jennifer Quinn, in San Francisco, contributed to this story.

- SAPA