Authorities in Yemen have arrested a 22-year-old engineering student and her mother who are alleged to have mailed the computer printers containing explosives that put security forces on high alert around the world over the weekend. Yemeni security forces surrounded a house late Saturday after running down the phone number left with the cargo shipping company that handled the parcels. They’re now looking for accomplices, who are believed to have Al Qaeda ties. While the alleged bombers might not have employed the best in tradecraft, the bombs they popped in the post were “extremely professional’ and capable of bringing down an airplane, say security officials.
The bomb found in the hold of a United Parcel Service plane in East Midlands in England on Friday was said to be so sophisticated that, at first, bomb experts determined that it wasn’t a bomb. “Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn’t detect it,” a security source told the Guardian. “It was only when they [forensics experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was.” The bomb found in England was equipped with a time while another located in Dubai was hooked to a cell phone computer chip. Both were in toner cartridges installed in printers. Authorities say the bombs were intended to bring the aircraft down.
