Somali arrested at airport with chemicals
Heinrich
last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have
caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist
plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated
Press on Wednesday.
The Somali man - whose name has not yet been released - was arrested by
African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight
took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern
Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police
spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.
"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign
organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him
red-handed," said Barise.
A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident in Somalia is similar to the
attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in that the
Somali man had a syringe, a bag of powdered chemicals and liquid - tools
similar to those used in the Detroit attack. The diplomat spoke on condition
he not be identified because he isn't authorized to release the information.
Barigye Bahoku, the spokesman for the African Union military force in
Mogadishu, said the chemicals from the Somali suspect could have caused an
explosion that would have caused air decompression inside the plane.
However, Bahoku said he doesn't believe an explosion would have brought the
plane down.
A second international official familiar with the incident, also speaking on
condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to discuss the case,
confirmed that the substances carried by the Somali passenger could have
been used as an explosive device.
In the Detroit case, alleged attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab hid
explosive PETN in a condom or condom-like bag just below his torso when he
traveled from Amsterdam to Detroit. Like the captured Somali, Abdulmutallab
also had a syringe filled with liquid. The substances seized from the Somali
passenger are being tested.
The November incident garnered little attention before the Dec. 25 attack
aboard a flight on final approach to Detroit. U.S. officials have now
learned of the Somali case and are hastening to investigate any possible
links between it and the Detroit attack, though no officials would speak on
the record about the probe.
U.S. investigators said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and
instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen - which lies across the Gulf
of Aden from Somalia. Similarly, large swaths of Somalia are controlled by
an insurgent group, al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.
Western officials say many of the hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters in
Somalia come in small boats across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. The
officials also say that examination of equipment used in some Somali suicide
attacks leads them to believe it was originally assembled in Yemen.
Law enforcement officials believe the suspect in the Detroit incident tried
to ignite a two-part concoction of the high explosive PETN and possibly a
glycol-based liquid explosive, setting off popping, smoke and some fire but
no deadly detonation. Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national, is charged with
trying to destroy an aircraft.
A Somali security official involved in the capture of the suspect in
Mogadishu said he had a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) package of chemical powder
and a container of liquid chemicals. The security official said the suspect
was the last passenger to try to board.
Once security officials detected the powder chemicals and syringe, the
suspect tried to bribe the security team that detained him, the Somali
security official said. The security official said the suspect had a white
shampoo bottle with a black acid-like substance in it. He also had a clear
plastic bag with a light green chalky substance and a syringe containing a
green liquid. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because
he wasn't authorized to release the information.
The powdered material had the strong scent of ammonia, Bahoku said, and
samples have been sent to London for testing.
The Somali security officials said the Daallo Airlines flight was scheduled
to go from Mogadishu to Hargeisa, to Djibouti and then to Dubai.
A spokeswoman for Daallo Airlines said that company officials weren't aware
of the incident and would have to seek more information before commenting.
Daallo Airlines is based in Dubai and has offices in Djibouti and France.
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Al Nakba
they are all going apeshit..