WikiLeaks: Terrorist plan to use teddy bear bombs to blow up planes revealed
By ANIWednesday, February 2, 2011
LONDON - Diplomatic cables leaked by the whistle blowing web site WikiLeaks have revealed terrorist plans to use children’s toys such as teddy bears to get bombs onto planes.
According to the Telegraph, American intelligence has been urging airport security staff to examine “children’s articles” for suspect explosive chemicals.
The threat was disclosed at a meeting in Spain between US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and European ministers in January 2010.
Ministers said that planes remained the “priority target” for al-Qaeda.
According to the cable, Thomas de Maizi�re, the German interior minister, noted the possibility of terrorists using children’s articles to introduce bombs into airplanes”.
Terrorists are attempting to manufacture nitrocellulose, a chemical which can become highly explosive if tightly packed.
Details of how to prepare the chemical, which cannot be detected by airport X-ray machines, have been found in al-Qaeda training manuals.
De Maizi�re also expressed concern about the lack of security checks on transit passengers in the EU.
The meeting also highlighted tensions between the US and Britain over intelligence failings in the case of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Nigerian who tried to blow up a plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. (ANI)
