Former intelligence chief calls for tougher British border controls

LONDON (AFP) - Britain should implement tougher border controls in the wake of failed car bombings allegedly carried out by immigrants to the country, a former head of the domestic intelligence service said in an interview published Friday.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dame Stella Rimington, who headed MI5 from 1992 to 1996, also said that Britain should take no solace from the fact that the attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow about two weeks ago failed.

Seven suspects are currently in police custody, one of whom has been charged, in connection with two Mercedes cars found abandoned in central London packed with nails and gas canisters on June 29, and a blazing Jeep Cherokee ramming into Glasgow Airport's main terminal a day later.

Most of the suspects work in health-related fields and are reported to have migrated to Britain from their countries of origin.

"We have realised that the free movement of people is a great concept -- but if you have people who would kill you, there have got to be a lot more checks," Rimington told the paper.

"We believed in freedom of speech, freedom of movement but all those wonderful things also made it a place where people could come to plot, a place for terrorists," she said.

Rimington warned against the introduction of "draconian" anti-terror laws, however, and added that the threat against Britain would last for "a generation".

"I don't think we should take a great deal of comfort from the fact that these latest bombs were botched," she said of the failed car bombings.

"Creating home-made explosives is difficult and they will get it wrong but they will get it right as well."