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AP: Officials examine suspicious packages in US, UK

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blame space

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By MARYCLAIRE DALE and EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press


Police Surround Cargo Planes in Philly, Newark



PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A suspicious package containing a toner cartridge with wires and powder was found during routine screening of cargo in the United Kingdom, prompting authorities to scour three planes and a truck in the United States on Friday.

Searches were conducted in Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York City, but no explosives were found. All the packages believed to be suspicious came from Yemen and were being sent via UPS.

Officials found a suspicious item during a basic security screening process in the United Kingdom, according to a U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

U.K. officials discovered that a toner cartridge on the plane had been manipulated and found wires attached to it and white powder. Tests on the device came back negative for explosives, according to a law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

All the packages being investigated in the U.S. originated from a specific address in Yemen that is connected to the suspicious device found in the U.K., the law enforcement official said. The official would not say where in Yemen the package came from.

Concerns about the possibility of similar and potentially dangerous devices shipped elsewhere prompted officials to check other cargo headed to the U.S.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says the planes in Philadelphia and Newark were swept. The planes were moved away from terminal buildings so law enforcement officials could investigate.

Two Philadelphia jets belonging to UPS were searched. A federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to provide information on the investigation, told the AP that nothing suspicious was found on them.

A source with knowledge of the situation in Newark who was not authorized to speak said the FBI and a bomb squad checked two packages there and gave the "all clear."

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the NYPD removed a package from a UPS truck in Brooklyn, tested it for possible explosives and found it not to be dangerous. The package was an envelope that came from Yemen, appeared to contain bank receipts, and was addressed to the JP Morgan Chase bank in Brooklyn, Kelly said. The package arrived on a plane that landed at Kennedy Airport, he said.

Yemeni authorities reached by the AP declined to comment. Many offices were closed because Friday is a day off in Yemen.

Mike Mangeot, a spokesman for Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc., said two planes in Philadelphia that had come from Cologne, Germany, and Paris were being investigated.

"Out of an abundance of caution, those aircraft have been isolated, and they are looking into the shipments in question there," he said.

A third plane had arrived in Newark, N.J., from East Midlands airport in England. That plane was cleared and flew to UPS' main hub in Louisville, Ky., on its usual route, Mangeot said.

In central England, police had evacuated a freight distribution building at East Midlands Airport after a suspicious package was reported at 3:30 a.m. Police and emergency workers examined the package and lifted the security cordon by midmorning, but Leicestershire Constabulary later said officers were re-examining it "as a precaution."

Sarah Furbank, a passenger who was about to board a plane out of East Midlands Airport, said that she had noticed an increased security presence.

There were "quite a few police cars round the edge" of the airport, Furbank told The Associated Press. "Apparently there was an incident earlier according to staff but they didn't go into detail."
Click to expand...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...AGES?SITE=CARIE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

this is all over the news right now

someone probably made a thread a second before i'm gonna hit submit..
 
D

dextran

Member
seems to me a group in Yemen has done a test run of sending bad things via cargo planes. perhaps they will transfer the devices to passenger jets after landing since they're already in the secure zone at that point.
 
Z

Zenith

Banned
Either it will be nothing, or it will be something done with malicious intentions but with no chance of doing damage that will result in more security checks.
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
I was watching a riveting live update on this action. The plane was sitting there on the tarmac. Absolutely riveting!
 
J

jamieson87

Member
I work in an international air hub for Europe's largest courier.

The incident at EMA happned earlier this morning.

Our security is second to none, every single consignment that is flown is x rayed.
 
P

Patryn

Member
Neuromancer said:
Could be a dry run.
Click to expand...

This is my guess. They want to see what gets by and what gets detected. More importantly, I'm sure they'll be scouring the news for reports about what made people get suspicious, and where in the process it was detected.
 
B

blame space

Banned
Patryn said:
This is my guess. They want to see what gets by and what gets detected. More importantly, I'm sure they'll be scouring the news for reports about what made people get suspicious, and where in the process it was detected.
Click to expand...

and basking in the round-the-clock coverage that gives us no new information. "experts" consulted every 3 minutes.. just oodles of attention
 
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Neuromancer

Member
t1larg.suspicious.cargo1.uk.jpg
 
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segarr

Member
I don't want this to completely take over cable news at least until a bomb is confirmed. This "suspicious package" stuff is fear-mongering b.s.
 
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Keyser Soze

Member
Two of the suspicious packages were address to "Religious Institutions in Chicago" says SkyNews. Also one could have been addressed to the White House
 
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segarr

Member
A dry-run? Seems ridiculous. Would just give us more intel to catch them with, alert us to the tactics they'll use, and cause us to beef up security.
 
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Neuromancer

Member
segarr said:
A dry-run? Seems ridiculous. Would just give us more intel to catch them with, alert us to the tactics they'll use, and cause us to beef up security.
Click to expand...
No I think it's very smart, as Patryn said:

Patryn said:
They want to see what gets by and what gets detected. More importantly, I'm sure they'll be scouring the news for reports about what made people get suspicious, and where in the process it was detected.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the 9/11 hijackers did dry runs too.
 
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jamieson87

Member
Keyser Soze said:
Two of the suspicious packages were address to "Religious Institutions in Chicago" says SkyNews. Also one could have been addressed to the White House
Click to expand...
Surely any consignment addressed to the White house would arise suspicion?
 
K

Krowley

Member
Everything about this sounds more like they were trying to send a poison or some kind of chemical or bio-weapon instead of a bomb. Either that or it is a dry-run or maybe a hoax of some kind.

I mean, if they want to blow something up, they would get it onto a commercial plane and blow the plane up. You're not going to use UPS.

Edit// And if you want to make some kind of bomb here in the USA, you can probably get all the components you need for something pretty dangerous without relying on overseas shipping.
 
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Neuromancer

Member
jamieson87 said:
Surely any consignment addressed to the White house would arise suspicion?
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm sure there's a separate screening location somewhere, still blowing that up or releasing some kind of chemical there could still qualify as a successful terrorist operation.
 
D

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Neuromancer said:
t1larg.suspicious.cargo1.uk.jpg
Click to expand...
Are they sure that isn't, you know, part of the normal toner cartridge?

Edit: Eh, looking around, it doesn't seem toner carts have any sort of circuit board in them.
 
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JohnTinker

Limbaugh Parrot
Two F-15s escorting commercial passenger plane arriving at JFK, jets were scrambled after 2 canadian jets escorted the plane into canadian airspace

No word on airliner company
 
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Neuromancer

Member
JohnTinker said:
Two F-15s escorting commercial passenger plane arriving at JFK, jets were scrambled after 2 canadian jets escorted the plane into canadian airspace

No word on airliner company
Click to expand...
Link?
 
J

JohnTinker

Limbaugh Parrot
FBI: Emirates Air passenger flight originating from Dubai, carrying cargo from Yemen, no known threat from the passengers onboard

Emirates Air flight 201 to be specific.
Emirates 201 is the same flight that the would-be Times Square bomber (can't remember his name) tried to get on after he fled the SUV
 
A

APF

Member
segarr said:
I don't want this to completely take over cable news at least until a bomb is confirmed. This "suspicious package" stuff is fear-mongering b.s.
Click to expand...
Exactly. The vast majority of packages are not suspicious, and it's racist fear mongering for our so-called media to focus on the tiny minority that allegedly are.
 
J

JohnTinker

Limbaugh Parrot
report on the AP wire saying that device found in Dubai regional fedex facility contained real, live explosives. Stark difference from "toner cartridge device" found in England East Midlands airport which was essentially a dummy. real explosive device originated from shipment from yemen
 
T

thefit

Member
Those boards are from cell phones but there seem to be no power to them. Gotta be a serious amateur sending shit addressed from Yemen.
 
D

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
JohnTinker said:
report on the AP wire saying that device found in Dubai regional fedex facility contained real, live explosives. Stark difference from "toner cartridge device" found in England East Midlands airport which was essentially a dummy. real explosive device originated from shipment from yemen
Click to expand...
Sound like a poor plan to have fake bombs. Would of been "better" to mail out 12 'toner carts', and have 11 really be printer toner.

But maybe this is part of some bigger plan, tie up officals looking at fake bombs to sneak a real one though, but that sounds likely to fail and downright dumb now that I typed it out.
 
E

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
White toner doesn't exist, so white powder in a cartridge makes no sense. Maybe some of the material turned out to be the wrong kind of chemicals, but it doesn't mean the guy who made the dud-explosive knew it wasn't the right chemical.
 
J

JohnTinker

Limbaugh Parrot
Im pretty sure they sent these out to see if the packages would be caught, a dry run. If they weren't caught, success. Roll out a mail bomb campaign and either ship them out to soft targets, or try to blow up the cargo planes themselves.

But the packages were intercepted, so instead of finding another exploit, we wind up with tighter security and restrictions, and have to ship out our Christmas presents even earlier now
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
JohnTinker said:
Im pretty sure they sent these out to see if the packages would be caught, a dry run. If they weren't caught, success. Roll out a mail bomb campaign and either ship them out to soft targets, or try to blow up the cargo planes themselves.

But the packages were intercepted, so instead of finding another exploit, we wind up with tighter security and restrictions, and have to ship out our Christmas presents even earlier now
Click to expand...
And I'm sure they're fine with that result too, just disrupting our daily operations.
 
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