London Banter - View Single Post - London Blasts

Ed Lake · July 12th 05, 03:28 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:

wrote:

Ed Lake wrote:

Everything I've seen says the London blasts could have been the work of
a lone terrorist.

Certainly no way to rule it out.

Interesting theory. Not sure I agree with the specifics.

He could have arrived at King's Cross on the eastbound Circle Line
train, leaving the FIRST bomb on that train.

He could have placed the SECOND bomb on the westbound Circle Line train

...

Same with the THIRD bomb.

...

Okay. This sounds plausible.

Once he reached the surface, he could have walked or taken a bus to
Euston Station. (He had plenty of time.) At Euston Station he boarded a
bus and left the FOURTH bomb under a seat at the back of the upper deck.
He then exited the bus at the first stop or maybe even before it left
Euston Station.

This is where I have a problem. The journey from King Cross to Russell
Square isn't very long. None of the central London stops take a long
time. We have a couple of minutes, tops. In that time, he would have
had to have got out of Kings Cross (which takes a few minutes) walk to
the bus stop, got to the back of the top deck of the bus, and planted
the bomb. That's got to be at least 5 minutes. Why choose that bus?
Why not one heading towards the city centre from Kings Cross?

Apparently the 30 bus starts off at Euston and *normally* heads back to
King's Cross. He could have got out at King's Cross walked to Euston,
caught a 30 bus with the intention of setting off a fourth bomb outside
of King's Cross as people are busy streaming out of the station. The
bus was diverted however and the bomb blew up on a side street.

There is another scenario. It is possible that he planted the bus bomb
first. Bus to Kings Cross. People will possibly ignore a bag left
behind. Then do all the rest of the bomb planting. Do they have video
equipment on busses?

I think the quickest scenario is plant the bombs on the Circle Line
starting when you have two trains relatively close in time on opposite
sides of the platform. You would have 8 to 10 minutes to walk to
Picadilly, drop a bomb in the first car and leave. Go out and walk to
Euston. Grab a bus.

The other problem I see is that 40 pounds of explosives would be
difficult to carry without risking drawing some attention to yourself.

Backpack. Wouldn't be conspicuous and remember, after the Circle Line
drop you have 20 lbs less weight. After Piccadilly, you could be
carrying as little as 15 lbs total depending on the type of backpack.

This suggests they should be looking for images of a male about 150 to
180 lb (70 to 80 kg) in good physical condition with a backpack leaving
the Circle Line platform between 8:35 and 8:45 who heads towards
Piccadilly line and then leaves Piccadilly line around 8:50. I
wouldn't be surprised if he is wearing a baseball cap for an American
sports team.

I don't know about the baseball cap, but he should be easy to spot on
the surveillance tapes because he'd be taking the next bomb out of the
bag AS HE MOVED BETWEEN TRAINS. He wouldn't have time to take it out of
the bag while ON a train if he has to get off again before it leaves.
And any such action would certainly have been noticed. He probably had
the bomb in his hand when he boarded, dropping it in a parcel bin next
to the door and leaving again.

Ed
anthraxinvestigation.com