LONDON -- Investigators forward thr...

LONDON -- Investigators forward three continents worked to fill in the cloyed frightening picture Friday of a plan to blow U.S. jetliners on the outside of the Atlantic skies, tracking the wealth trail and seizing more alleged conspirators in eastern Pakistan.

the same arrested there, a Briton named Rashid Rauf, apparently was the operational planner and is musing to have connections to al- Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistani and U officials said.

British and Pakistani authorities have arrested as many as 41 the community in the two countries in connection with the alleged suicidal plan, halting up by British police this week, to detonate disguised liquid explosives aboard as many as 10 planes border from Britain to the United States.

"The terrorists intended a next to the first Sept. 11," said Frances Fragos Townsend, White House homeland security adviser.

recent information underlined how close they were to mounting attacks.

After the first arrests in Pakistan an days ago, word went from Pakistan to the London contrivers to move ahead quickly, a message intercepted from an intelligence agency, a U official said, onward condition of anonymity. That alerted British police to move in upon the conspirators, long under watch.

British family Secretary John Reid said officials were confident the main suspects in the outline were in custody. But authorities "would fare where any further evidence takes us," he said.

'THINK OF IT AS A RIVER'

Townsend said there is no reason to think that schemers or others connected with the terror project are in the United States. further she added, "We operate in succession the assumption that we don't have everybody"

The British dominion released the names of 19 of the 24 arrested in Britain -- many apparently British Muslims of Pakistani ancestry -- and froze their assets. individual of the 24 detainees later was fre

The record of financial transactions, along with phone and computer records, may help investigators trace more tribe in the alleged plot.

"Think of it as a river -- you gaze upstream to find the source and downstream to find on the outside where the money is going," said Cliff Knuckey former chief standard of value laundering investigator for Scotland Yard.

FBI agents checked possible leads in the last hardly any weeks, but the homeland security secretary said Friday nothing significant had emerg

"Currently we do not have evidence that there was, as part of this piece of ground any plan to initiate activity inside the United States or that the plotting was done in the United States," Michael Chertoff said.

Suspects had tickets for Wednesday

Britain kept its threat assessment flush at "critical," indicative of an imminent attack. Extraordinary security measures continued at British airports, although the backlog of passengers eased from Thursday's chaotic conditions, when centurys of flights were canceled. At Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, about 70 percent of flights operated Friday, further many had been canceled, including British Airways services to San Francisco and looks Angeles.

The alleged terrorists were planning to assemble their bomb aboard the aircraft, apparently with a peroxide-based solution disguised as beverages or other harmless-seeming items, and using in the same state [i]or[/i] condition electronic equipment as a disposable camera or a music player as a detonator, couple U.S. law enforcement officials said.

A U intelligence official said they planned to open a couple of attackers through plane, and the two dozen schemers didn't all know one another -- a typical security measure in terror clumps

London's Evening Standard reported the contrivers apparently chose next Wednesday as a target date, since they had tickets for a United Airlines flight that day, as well as individuals for this Friday, apparently a trial run to see whether they could smuggle chemicals aboard in soda containers.

The paper didn't report the flight's destination, nevertheless United has flights from Heathrow to of the present day York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

The British say their inquiry began month ago -- quicked by a tip from within the British Muslim community after the July 7 2005 terror bombings of the London transit body the Washington Post reported.

There were signs preparations stepp up lately One of the houses raided by the agency of British police this week had been bought last month by way of two men in an all-cash deal, in a neighborhood of $300000 houses, neighbors reported.

Scotland Yard didn't identify the alone detainee released Friday from among 24 arrested in London, its western suburb of High Wycombe and the central city of Birmingham.

The 19 identified ranged in age from 17 to 35 had Muslim names and appeared to be of Pakistani declivity although many were born and all reared in Britain.

It was unclear to what degree the alleged plotters met or who the ringleader was, although suspicion knock down on the only one identified who is above 30 -- Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 35 of east London.

A teenage neighbor of suspect Assad Sarwar, 26 said Sarwar had become increasingly strident after the London transit bombings, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 other the community "He started talking about terrorism and acting like it's OK to flower up people," said Nawaz Chaudhry, 17