Both explosive devices, one discovered in Dubai and the other in the UK, were concealed in printer cartridges and contained the plastic explosive PETN- the same materiel the Christmas Day 'underwear bomber' attempted to unsuccessfully detonate on board a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit late last year. The devices were wired to cell phones, timers and power supplies and were likely powerful enough to bring down the airliners carrying them and were in boxes addressed to Chicago, IL-area synagogues. It was unclear if the bombs were supposed to be detonated on board the aircraft or when they arrived on their destination.
Authorities in Yemen detained and released a 22 year old college student suspected of mailing the bombs when they concluded her identity was used by another individual on invoices recovered at the San'a Fed Ex office. They are also looking into two language schools in San'a that the suspected masterminds might have been associated with.
An official with Qatar Airways said that at least one of the explovisve-laden parcels arrived from the Yemeni capital to the airline's Doha, Qatar hub on a passenger flight before it was discovered in the United Arab Emirates.
Investigators in the UAE are also trying to trace the serial numbers on the phone and printer cartridges. The airflight plot was discovered nearly two months after the crash of a UPS cargo plane on approach to Dubai International Airport that killed the plane's two crew members. Officials from the UAE's General Civil Authority concluded that a fire in the cargo hold filled the cockpit with smoke that likely caused the September crash, although they don't belive it was a bomb that downed the cargo plane. The ill-fated UPS flight was carrying a large quantity of Lithium batteries, which may not have started the fire, but could explode if the fire had spread to them.
Meanwhile, Canada, the UK and Germany have halted airfrieght shipments from Yemen.
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