LONDON -- Hundreds of officers from across Britain have joined the investigation into an alleged plot to bomb as many as 10 jetliners bound for the U.S., making it one of the largest investigations in British history, police chiefs said Friday.
Staff from every police force in the country are working on the case, and dozens of specialist teams are continuing sweeps of homes, businesses and a stretch of dense woodland thought to hold clues, police said.
Police have carried out searches of around 50 locations in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham and are continuing work at 14 sites.
"Every other police force in Britain has responded to a request from the Metropolitan Police for mutual aid and provided officers for the inquiry," a spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said, on condition of anonymity in line with association policy.
Officers using climbing ropes probed a canopy of trees in High Wycombe, 30 miles northwest of London, while others conducted fingertip sweeps of the forest floor for traces of explosives.
London's Scotland Yard has refused to comment on claims that a suitcase containing bomb-making equipment, firearms and a cache of chemicals had been unearthed in the strip of woods.
The British Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday quoted an anonymous police source as saying a suitcase holding "everything you would need to make an improvised device" had been uncovered in High Wycombe.
Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 is also continuing investigations but is not disclosing the nature of its inquiries, said Britain's Home Office, which is responsible for intelligence and counterterrorism.
Police have declined to release details of items recovered during eight days of investigations, but Interior Minister John Reid told his European counterparts that evidence is mounting against 23 suspects rounded up in a series of pre-dawn raids Aug. 10.
Officers have until Monday to question two suspects and until Wednesday to interview 21 others. Officers may seek to hold the suspects for a maximum of 28 days before charging them and are likely to ask a judge next week to extend the current custody deadlines.
Though most airlines and airports were operating a full service Friday, Britain's government said there would be no return to normal airport security arrangements over the next week.
The Department for Transport said it had "no intention of compromising security" by changing requirements on hand baggage in the next seven days.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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