Plot's aim not coup, Afghan says

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Alleged subversives arrested last week in a series of roundups in Kabul were hoping to destabilize the country but not take over the government as one Afghan official reported, the Afghan foreign minister said Saturday.

The foreign minister, Abdullah, said evidence of the suspects' intent to carry out sabotage and terrorism was "undeniable." But he would not discuss the substance of what were said to be written documents implicating the arrested men.

Since Afghan authorities on Thursday reported 160 arrested in the alleged plot, "a few people have been released," said Abdullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name. He said those freed included a member of his staff caught when authorities raided a friend's house while he was visiting.

Those in custody are linked to a hardline Islamic group, Hezb-e-Islami, headed by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, officials said. A spokesman for that group denied it was connected with the alleged plot.

Afghan Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni said Thursday that authorities found explosives with remote control devices in the suspects' possession and written documents indicating the suspects would carry out "terrorism, abductions and sabotage."

Qanooni said they planned to attack Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, and the exiled former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, whose homecoming is expected this month. Mohammed Naseer, security director at the Kabul governor's office, said the suspects "wanted to launch a coup d'etat."

But on Saturday the foreign minister said media reports had created a "perception" that the men intended a coup, "which is just impossible at this stage in Afghanistan." Instead, he said, the alleged plan was "for destabilizing the situation."

If you bring it, be ready to drink it

ASPEN, Colo. -- A 14-year-old boy thinks he got sick because airport security personnel made him take a drink from a bottle of untreated stream water he wanted to carry on an airplane so he could take it to school.

Security measures added since Sept. 11 require that passengers drink from liquids they are taking on an aircraft to prove the liquids are not dangerous, said Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration.

But Paul Turk of the federal Transportation Security Administration said security screeners can simply inquire about the contents of drink containers.

Fergus said Elliot Gosko never told security personnel at Aspen's Sardy Field what was in his bottle.

"If we had been told it was creek water there is no way we would have asked him to take a swig of it, unless we had reason to believe it was something else," Fergus said.

Gosko suspects he was infected by Giardia, a micro-organism sometimes found in untreated water, but tests aren't complete.

LOADED GUN FOUND: A man who allegedly had a loaded gun in his carry-on luggage was arrested Friday by the FBI in Omaha, Neb., before he boarded a Chicago-bound plane.

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