Al Qaeda 'plot to blow up passenger jet' in run up to Olympics uncovered by security forces

From the Daily Mail:

A terrorist plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet timed to coincide with the Olympics has been uncovered by security agencies, according to intelligence sources.

Al Qaeda intended to use a radicalised Norwegian Islamic convert to attack U.S. planes in the build-up to the London Games - which start in 26 days on July 27 - it is understood.

The plan centred on using the so-called ‘clean skin’ – a terrorist with no previous criminal record and are unlikely to raise suspicions among the security services – in order to evade airport security.

The al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet discovered by intelligence services involved using a radicalised Norwegian Islamic convert to evade airport security measures. File picture

‘If you are blowing up aeroplanes you are likely to be killing Brits or having a big impact on the European or British economy. [So it] would in effect be an attack against Britain,’ a Whitehall official told the Sunday Times.

Terrorists from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), based in Yemen, are understood to be behind this latest plot.

The same group were revealed to have been behind at least four other attempted attacks in the last four years.

'Unrepentant': Prosecutors at his trial said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would try to kill again

Nigerian-born British student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was ordered to carryout a suicide mission for AQAP when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants as the plane, en route from Amsterdam, approached Detroit.

It failed to fully detonate aboard the flight, which was carrying nearly 300 people, but caused a brief fire that badly burned his groin.

Passengers pounced on Abdulmutallab and forced him to the front of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 where he was held until the plane landed minutes later.

In 2009, months before the attack, he travelled to Yemen to see Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and one of the best-known al Qaeda figures, according to the government. 

In February, this year, a U.S. court jailed him for life without parole.

AQAP were said to be responsibility for a sophisticated attempt to blow up a cargo plane with bombs hidden in ink cartridges.

At least one of the bombs planted on cargo planes heading for Chicago was primed to explode once the aircraft reached the U.S. mainland.

The charred underpants with a packet of explosive powder sewn into the crotch, used by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in an attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253

The terror plot was thwarted after the two devices - hidden inside printer cartridges - were intercepted at airports in Nottingham and Dubai on October 29, last year.

Both bombs contained quantities of the powerful explosive PETN. The device discovered in the UK contained  400 grams of the lethal ingredient – 50 times more than needed to punch a hole in the aircraft’s skin – and was wired to a mobile phone.

The device, discovered at East Midland airport, was timed to explode during flight after it entered U.S. air space, Scotland Yard officials said at the time of the plot's discovery.

In May, this year, it was revealed security agencies had thwarted another AQAP plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner.

The attack was prevented because the intended bomber was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide mission, it was revealed.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency placed the undercover operator inside AQAP where he convinced his handlers to give him the new type of non-metallic bomb.

The agent, who was in Yemen, was liaising with the CIA before handing the device over to intelligence services.

Mojik holds a package in his quivering hands 

Up comes the wind that makes him run for cover 

He feels the time is surely now or never more 


Mojique buys equipment in the marketplace
Mojique plants devices in the free trade zone

The Wind in my Heart 

The Wind in my Heart 

The Dust in my Head