'Dry run' devices intercepted before airport terrorism scare

AMERICAN intelligence officials intercepted three suspicious packages in September, which they now suspect were sent as a 'dry run' for the latest international terrorism scare.A terror alert was issued on both sides of the Atlantic at the weekend after two bombs were discovered last Friday, one at East Midlands Airport and the other in Dubai.FROM TODAY'S POST: Review of 'all aspects' of air freight security after East Midlands Airport bomb plotNow US authorities have revealed they also seized and searched more boxes in September before the shipments reached their destinations in Chicago.They removed "papers, books and other materials" that now appear to have been sent by the Yemeni militant group al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) to test logistics of the air cargo system, the official said. "We received information several weeks ago that potentially connected these packages to Aqap. The boxes were stopped in transit and searched. They contained papers, books, and other materials, but no explosives," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified intelligence.
The apparent dry run was disclosed first in a report by ABC News.The official said authorities, already aware of the militants' interest in striking at aviation, "obviously took notice" and considered the likelihood that the militants might have extended their threat to the cargo system.
"When we learned of last week's serious threat, we recalled the incident and factored it in to our government's very prompt response," the official said.The threat last week came in the form of explosive devices hidden in the cartridges of computer printers.
It is still unclear whether the detonators would have been set off by telephone calls or an internal alarm.
Investigators centred on the Yemeni al Qaida faction's top bomb maker, who previously designed a bomb that failed to go off on a crowded US-bound passenger jet in the United States last December.It has also emerged that explosives discovered at East Midlands airport and in Dubai were at least 50 times more potent than would be needed to blow a hole in an aircraft fuselage.It came as Home Secretary Theresa May announced a suspension of flights containing unaccompanied cargo from Somalia amid a review of all air freight security.