A bomb device was yesterday (29 October) discovered on a UPS freight plane at East Midlands airport. The bomb was made in a form of a printer toner cartridge filled with white powder and it was discovered that it was also a ‘viable’ one. The bomb had a great chance of exploding while the plane was flying.[1]
The Home Secretary, Theresa May stated that: ‘The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down’. Speaking after a meeting of Cobra, the Government's emergency planning committee, the Home Secretary added: ‘We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.’ In addition, all unaccompanied air freight from Yemen have been halted and Yemen authorities have reported that they have arrested 26 suspects.[2]
In my opinion, if this action is proven to be a terrorist act, then States should take more serious measures on searching planes either public or cargo. It seems that the terrorists have changed their methods from public planes to freight planes in order to catch the authorities in sleep, but luckily, proper investigation has been made and tragic incidents were avoided.
Posted by Ioannis Masonos
[1] Sadie Gray, The Times, ‘East Midlands Package was ‘Viable’ Bomb’, 30 October, 2010 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/
[2] David Harrison, Telegraph, ‘Bomb found on cargo plane in UK ‘was viable’’, 30 October, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8098779/Bomb-found-on-cargo-plane-in-UK-was-viable.html
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