October 30, 2010
Explosives Could Have Downed Plane, British Say By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/liz_robbins/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> LIZ ROBBINS, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/robert_f_worth /index.html?inline=nyt-per> ROBERT F. WORTH and <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_f_burns/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> JOHN F. BURNS New york Times A package shipped from <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ye men/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Yemen and bound for the United States on a cargo jet that was intercepted in Britain on Friday contained an explosive device powerful enough to bring down the plane, British authorities said on Saturday. "I can confirm the device was viable and could have exploded," said the British home secretary, Theresa May. "The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down." A day after two packages containing explosives addressed to synagogues in Chicago were discovered, one in Britain and the other in Dubai, setting off a broad terror alert, the findings from British authorities raised new questions about the target and the seriousness of the plot. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/janet_napolita no/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Janet Napolitano, the United States secretary of Homeland Security, said on Saturday that it "has the hallmarks of <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaed a/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Al Qaeda." The Yemeni president, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ali_abdullah_s aleh/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Ali Abdullah Saleh, said on Saturday that Yemeni security forces had surrounded a house where a woman suspected of mailing the packages was believed to be hiding, Reuters reported. It was not immediately clear whether an arrest had been made. As officials on three continents sought to determine the origin of the plot, authorities continued to search for other potentially dangerous packages shipped from Yemen. The U.S. Postal Service announced on Saturday that it had suspended inbound international mail originating in Yemen. Both Britain and France halted air freight from Yemen, according to wire reports, and the police in Sana, the capital of Yemen, closed down the offices of FedEx and U.P.S., the parcel companies used to courier the disguised explosive devices. The preliminary tests on the devices found at East Midlands Airport in Britain and in Dubai showed that the packages contained the explosive PETN, the same chemical explosive in the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/times_square _bomb_attempt_may_1_2010/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> bomb sewn into the underwear of the Nigerian man who tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit last Dec. 25. That plot, too, was hatched in Yemen, a country that is regarded as one of the most significant fronts in the battle with extremists. But after Ms. May, the British home secretary, said on Saturday that the aircraft itself could have been the target of the bombs, it was not yet clear whether the two packages were intended for the synagogues or whether the intent was to cause mass destruction in the air. "We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode," Ms. May said, speaking to reporters after leading a meeting of the British government's Cobra committee, which oversees Britain's response to terrorist threats. On Friday, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> President Obama said that the explosives represented a "credible terrorist threat" to the United States, and in television interviews on Saturday morning, Ms. Napolitano went a step further. "I think we would agree with that, that it does contain all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda and in particular Al Qaeda A.P.," she said, referring to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Ms. Napolitano and the police in Dubai on Saturday confirmed that the bomb discovered in Dubai, in cargo from Yemen bound for the United States, contained the explosive PETN. Yemen's security forces on Saturday appeared to be in a state of heightened alert. Yemeni officials have declined to comment on the plot, saying only that they are investigating. But new checkpoints appeared in Sana on Saturday, with officers checking the identity cards of drivers and pedestrians. One Yemeni official familiar with the investigation on Saturday offered a timeline with new details about the methods used to conceal the explosive devices and the routes the packages traveled before authorities intercepted them. The explosives were expertly placed in the ink cartridge of a Hewlett-Packard printer, and might never have been discovered if not for a tip, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. One of the two packages, the official said, was sent by FedEx from Yemen, listing the sender under an address in Sana with a woman's name. It was flown out on Oct. 28 on a Qatar Airways flight to Doha, the capital of Qatar, and then flown one day later to Dubai. There, it was detected almost immediately by Emirati officials, who had received a warning from British intelligence. The toner cartridge used to hide the explosives was from an HP-2055 printer, a desktop model. "The wiring of the device indicates that this was done by professionals," the official said. In addition to the explosives that were carefully placed into the toner cartridge, there was a cellular phone on the bottom of the printer to be used for detonation. The printer head was the striker that would set off the explosion. "It was set up so that if you scan it, all the printer components would look right," the official said. After discovering it, Emirati officials removed and dismantled the device, and it is now being analyzed at a <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/forensic_sci ence/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> forensics lab in the United Arab Emirates, the official said. He added that the other package, which was discovered in Britain, was initially sent from Yemen through Cologne, in Germany. It was not clear how specific the tip from Britain was, or whether the Emirati authorities knew to look for a printer. Screening in the Emirates for products being shipped to the United States is especially rigorous. Intelligence was being shared continuously throughout the period after the first package was identified. "The whole thing took a few hours," the official said. The government denied a report circulating early on Saturday that it had found 24 additional suspect packages, but at the international airport, investigators were questioning employees of FedEx and U.P.S., airport officials said. The discovery on Friday of the explosives packed in toner cartridges for computer printers was based on a tip from Saudi intelligence officials, American officials said. On Saturday morning, the high-level Cobra committee that oversees Britain's response to terrorist threats met for a second time in 24 hours at the Home Office in London. Ms. May said that the Cobra committee would be reviewing measures to tighten security at airline cargo centers across Britain. British officials and security experts said they regarded the use of cargo planes to deliver explosives as a sinister, but predictable, new front in the war against terrorism. By using the freight aircraft as a new "delivery system," they said, the militants appeared to have moved beyond reliance on suicide bombers boarding passenger planes, the method used in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a succession of attempted attacks. "This is a new dynamic," said Sajjan M. Gohel, director for International Security for the London-based Asia-Pacific Foundation, an independent security and intelligence research group. "Whenever security gaps are plugged, and the threat minimized, terrorist groups will find alternative means of striking their targets. If they can't go for passenger aircraft, they go for cargo planes; and if they can't go after cargo planes, they'll go after another link in the chain." President Obama, in a brief national statement on Friday, praised the work of intelligence and counterterrorism officials in foiling the plot. "The events of the past 24 hours underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism," Mr. Obama said to reporters at the White House on Friday afternoon. He had been briefed on developments starting at 10:35 p.m. on Thursday. "The American people should be confident that we will not waver in our resolve to defeat Al Qaeda and its affiliates and to root out violent extremism in all its forms," the president said. The latest plot underscored once again the threat from Yemen and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the branch of the terrorism network based there. Yemen, once little known to most Americans, has been the source of some of the most dramatic terrorism attempts of recent years. American intelligence officials have said that <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/anwar_al_awlak i/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric now hiding in Yemen, played a direct role in the Christmas Day airliner plot, and he has publicly called for more attacks on the United States. In addition, an Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fort_hood_te xas/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> Fort Hood, Texas, a year ago had exchanged e-mails with Mr. Awlaki beforehand. Mr. Awlaki's lectures and sermons have been linked to more than a dozen terrorist investigations in the United States, Britain and Canada, and <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/faisal_shahzad /index.html?inline=nyt-per> Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in May, cited Mr. Awlaki as an inspiration. Yemeni raids and American missile strikes have repeatedly targeted Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since December, and early this year Mr. Awlaki became the first American citizen to be placed on the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central _intelligence_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Central Intelligence Agency's list of suspected terrorists to be captured or killed. So far no evidence has been made public linking Mr. Awlaki to the latest plot. Liz Robbins reported from New York, Robert F. Worth from Beirut, Lebanon, and John F. Burns from London. Reporting was contributed by Scott Shane, Helene Cooper, Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti, Matthew L. Wald, Thom Shanker and Michael D. Shear from Washington; Al Baker and Mick Meenan from New York; and Emma Graves Fitzsimmons from Chicago. 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