Modus Operandi – Explosive Packages Found Aboard UPS and FedEx Transport Aircraft
On the end of October 2010, two packages of explosives were discovered in Britain and Dubai. Reports in the Arab media claim the package in Britain was discovered on a UPS aircraft whilst the one in Dubai was found at a FedEx installation, deposited inside a printer’s ink cartridge which contained an electrical circuit and a cellular phone mechanism.
Both packages were addressed to Jewish synagogues in Chicago and contained powerful PETN explosives. According to investigators, this type of explosive hints not only to the organization behind the attempted attack, but also to the identity of the manufacturer himself, suspected to be Ibrahim Hassan Al-Asiri, a Saudi citizen who is on the list of the 85 men wanted by the Saudi authorities.
On January 2011, the 16th edition of the “Sada Al-Malahem” Jihadist magazine was published. A number of articles on the affair of the explosives packages were included, revealing how Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has succeeded in overcoming security and bypassing the X-ray systems at the airport in Yemen.
