Updated on
Summary
UK Home Secretary Theresa May has confirmed that a device found in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane could have exploded on board the jet. The device, intercepted at East Midlands Airport, was viable and could have exploded on board, she said. Dubai police earlier confirmed that a second device, also on a US-bound cargo plane, contained explosives. Washington suspects the devices were part of an al-Qaeda plot. They were apparently both inserted in printer cartridges and placed in packages addressed to synagogues in the Chicago area. Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) - the same explosive used in a failed plot to bomb a plane flying to Detroit last December - was discovered in the Dubai device. The packages were found on UPS and FedEx cargo planes, triggering alerts in the US, UK and Middle East. Other planes at US airports were checked because they were thought to contain items from Yemen. Yemeni police are reportedly examining 26 other suspect parcels. US President Barack Obama discussed the apparent terrorist plot with UK Prime Minister David Cameron by phone on Saturday. He expressed his appreciation for the professionalism of American and British services involved in disrupting it, the White House said.
