Bomb plot probe targets air cargo system

Bomb plot probe targets air cargo system    The search for suspicious packages aboard UPS cargo planes in Philadelphia and Newark Friday turned out to be part of a larger terror plot originating in Yemen to attack the United States.
   Intelligence tips from Saudi Arabian authorities led to the discovery of two boxes, containing desktop laser printers with a powdery explosive compound hidden in the ink toner cartridge, addressed to synagogues in Chicago, U.S. officials said. At least one of the boxes was also filled with clothes and shoes to look like a routine shipment. The tip led U.S. officials to order any plane with packages from Yemen to be intercepted and searched.
   One of the packages intended for Chicago was shipped by FedEx through Dubai and the other by UPS through Germany to England. On Friday, British authorities at East Midlands Airport north of London seized one of the packages. The other package was confiscated by local authorities at a FedEx facility in Dubai.
   Both devices included parts from cell phones, which some investigators believe functioned as timers to detonate the bombs, according to news accounts. The packages had fictitious names on the labels.
   British and American officials say the bombs were intended to explode on passenger aircraft even though they couldn't control how they moved through the system to their intended target.
   John Brennan, deputy national security advisor, said on Meet the Press Sunday, 'I don't know exactly the extent of their knowledge of how exactly these cargo packages are moved, and whether or not they are on cargo aircraft or passenger aircraft. We just know that there was an intention to try and carry out of attack with these IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that were going to be transshipped on aircraft to the United States.'
   Other officials say the terrorists could have intended the packages to reach Chicago before exploding.
   One of the planes searched Friday was an Emirates passenger flight from Dubai that landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Qatar Airlines on Sunday said one of its jets also carried one of the boxes from Sana'a Yemen to Dubai, where it was stopped.
   'The explosives were of a sophisticated nature whereby they could not be detected by X-ray screening or trained sniffer dogs. The explosives were only discovered after an intelligence tip-off,' the airline said.
   Earlier on Friday, law enforcement officials searched the UPS planes for packages thought to be shipped from Yemen. The planes were allowed to resume operations when no suspicious packages were found. In New York City, police searched a UPS delivery truck thought to be carrying a package that had originated in Yemen. No explosives were found on the truck.
   The Department of Homeland Security is sending experts to Yemen to monitor cargo security there, according to NBC News. The department also said in a statement that it has heightened cargo screening and other security measures at airports.
   The FBI and CIA are trying to identify the specific individuals in Yemen responsible for the failed attack, including going back to look at the records about shipments from the Middle East nation going back several weeks.
   The bomb plot has refocused attention on the crash in early September of a UPS 747-400 freighter in Dubai that killed both pilots. A fire broke out in the cargo compartment shortly after takeoff, according to an Associated Press report at the time. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but United Arab Emirates authorities say explosives were not involved.
   UPS and FedEx announced that they have imposed an embargo on flights from Yemen, suspending service and acceptance of packages out of Yemen. FedEx said it also would not accept packages to Yemen until further notice. The U.S. Postal Service has also stopped accepting packages from Yemen, NBC reported.
   The incident is likely to raise calls for tougher security measures for all-cargo planes. In August, the Transportation Security Administration implemented a congressional mandate that 100 percent of shipments on passenger planes be screened, but the rule does not apply to cargo on freighters. The screening is mostly done by the airlines and certified freight forwarders and shippers. The rules apply to domestic and outbound international flights. Congress also intended the mandate to cover international inbound flights, but it is taking longer for the United States to get other countries to accept a comparable, standardized air cargo security regime.
   Cargo carriers have their own set of security rules and companies like UPS and FedEx are known to have X-ray machines at some of their hubs in addition to other security protocols. Inspections are more selective, typically based on shipping information that triggers suspicion.
   The British International Freight Association, which represents freight forwarders, urged authorities not to engage in a knee-jerk reaction to the bomb plot.
   'It would be wrong to suggest that air freight is not treated the same way as passengers when it comes to security. The fact that the explosives were discovered after an intelligence tip-off, shows that the use of intelligence and good policing experience is one of the most important aspects of this.
   'Success in securing the supply chain relies less on new methods and technology than it does on greater cooperation and information sharing among supply chain parties and between the public and private sectors.
   'Clear, uniformly enforced strategies that build on existing commercial and government data at minimal cost and with minimal disruption to the flow of trade are essential to success,' BIFA said in a statement.
   Michael Chertoff, former secretary of homeland security under President George Bush, said on ABC News that al Qaeda in Yemen may have shipped the bombs because it is easier to make them overseas where they have access to the necessary materials and don't need to rely on an operative in the United States.
   'What they are doing is relying on the courier service or the mail service and trusting that the package is going to there the way the courier says it is going to. Unfortunately, in the case where the bomb goes off, it's a very bad delivery.'
   NBC News Middle East correspondent Richard Engel theorized on Friday's broadcast that the low-probability of success for the bomb plot suggests that the terrorists were probing the air cargo system for vulnerabilities. Addressing tampered packages from Yemen to a synagogue made it likely that red flags would go up and they would be intercepted, he said. Other experts said the incident, in the wake of last December's failed attempt by a Nigerian to smuggle an explosive in his underwear, further demonstrates al Qaeda in Yemen's ineptitude in making bombs. ' Eric Kulisch