Anwar Al-Awlaki; America and the war on Yemen - talking about Omar Farooq
Scotland Yard explosives officers found a device hidden in a printer cartridge at East Midlands Airport around 2pm last Friday and another device was found in Dubai.
Brice Hortefeux, the French interior minister told French TV tday: "One of the packages was defused only 17 minutes before the moment that it was set to explode.”
It was unclear whether he was referring to the device found in Leicester or that found in Dubai.
A Metropolitan Police source said they were “still investigating” what time the device found at East Midlands airport was set to explode.
Their only official statement was made more than 24 hours after the discovery when they confirmed the British package was a “viable explosive device.”
British police at first failed to find the bombs and gave the all-clear at the airport, later returning when they had spoken to the authorities in Dubai.
The device is currently being investigated at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories at Fort Halstead in Kent.
Sources have told the Daily Telegraph that both bombs were set to go off using a dismantled mobile phone alarm clock as a timer.
It is thought that the detonator was made of lead azide in a syringe which was set to react with PETN high explosive inside the toner cartridge of two desk top printers.
US investigators believe that the terrorists had performed a dry run from Yemen in order to time when the aircraft carrying the packages would be over the Atlantic.
German officials have revealed that the British bomb contained 300g of the high explosive PETN, one of the components of Semtex, and the device in Dubai contained 400g.
The bomb-maker is thought to be Ibrahim al-Asiri of the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the same group responsible for the Christmas Day underpants bomb.
Their target is thought to have been the passenger jets on which much cargo is transported, although the bomb brought into East Midlands airport was on a cargo jet.
The packages were addressed to two synagogues in Chicago but names on the parcels referred to historic figures and the addresses were out of date.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said on Wednesday that an “associate” of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was arrested earlier this year and was allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Britain.
The individual was in touch with Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the leaders of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda group, and was planning an attack on passenger aircrafts.
Another man with links to Britain was also arrested in Yemen in connection with the alleged plot, sources said (telegraph.co.uk)
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