A judge in Pakistan has decided there is not enough evidence to try the main suspect in a purported terror plot to blow up airlines with liquids. This alleged international conspiracy is the reason you now have to carry less-than-3 oz bottles of mouthwash and shampoo in clear ziplock bags when you fly. Snip from BBC:
[The Pakistani judge] has moved the case of Rashid Rauf, a Briton, from an anti-terrorism court to a regular court, where he faces lesser charges such as forgery. Pakistan has presented Mr Rauf as one of the ringleaders behind the alleged plan to blow up flights out of London. The British authorities say they foiled it with Pakistan’s help in August. They say proceedings against suspects arrested in Britain will go ahead.
The arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan triggered arrests in the United Kingdom of a number of suspects allegedly plotting to blow up transatlantic flights. The Pakistani authorities described him as a key figure. But an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities or that he belonged to a terrorist organisation. As well as forgery charges, Mr Rauf has also been charged with carrying explosives. But his lawyer says police evidence amounts only to bottles of hydrogen peroxide found in his possession.
Link to BBC item, here’s a related AP item via WaPo. Previous BoingBoing coverage of the War On Moisture: Link. (thanks, pete sicilia on Wayne’s list)