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It appears that had one or both devices been timed to go off earlier there coluld easily have been a midair explosion, as both parcels were clearly in the air as shown above for at least two legs. What Do You Say? Click Here to Send Us Your Comments Click Here to See Reader Feedback

Update: Nov. 4, 2010

Slowly, it seems, details of what actually happened in last week's aborted terror attack are starting to become clear.

The following summary is adapted from a short piece put out by the BBC in London.

• Device 1 was intercepted at East Midlands Airport in the UK. It was posted via UPS in Yemen and is believed to have been flown via Dubai and Cologne (see graphic below)
• Device 2 intercepted in Dubai after flying on two Qatar Airways passenger jets from Yemen. It was posted via freight firm FedEx
• Both devices are addressed to synagogues in Chicago, and contain PETN explosives stuffed into printer cartridges
• Other UPS cargos are searched in Newark, Philadelphia and New York as the alert spreads
• The UK government later says it believes Device 1 was designed to go off on board the plane

Just this morning, a French government minister said one of the two bombs was defused just 17 minutes before it was set to explode, though it appears that means it had already been identified and thus it was not that perilously close to a midair detontation.

Still, it appears that had one or both devices been timed to go off earlier there coluld easily have been a midair explosion, as both parcels were clearly in the air as shown above for at least two legs.

Cell phones were attached to the toner-cartridge based bombs filled with plastic explosives authorities say could easily have broight down a plane. Because no SIM cards were in the phones, it is believed the phones were being used as timers, rather than awaiting a call from a terrorist to detonate then, as often happens with roadside IEDs say in Iraq.

Update: (October 29, 2010)2:08 pm EDT:

Read SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore's blog: The Good and Bad of the Cargo Terror Incident

Update: (October 29, 2010)1:23 pm EDT:

The quarantined UPS plane at the Newark airport is said to have been cleared.

A FedEx hub in Dubai is said to have stopped all shipments coming through that hub originating in Dubai.

No explosives or actual weapons appeared to have been found, but the "sinister" device found in the UK leads many commentators to suggest this was some sort of dry run to see whether such a package would be found and how authorities would react.

"This probably is a test of our defenses," says Congressman Peter King of New York, who has been very active on security issues and legislation.

Original Story (October 29, 2010)

Breaking Global Supply Chain News: Suspected Coordinated Terror Event Targeting Air Cargo Appears to be Underway, Though Whether it is Real or a Test Run Remains Unclear

Details are few and conflicting, but at least three UPS cargo planes are under quarantine at airports in Philadelphia and Newark, while another "suspicious" package is being examined in a small regional airport, amidst concerns  a multi-pronged terror attack or fake terror attack is underway.

As best known at this time, a plane originating in Paris is under quarantine at the Philadelphia airport, as is one originating from Cologne, Germany - where there is a huge UPS hub - in Newark. The suspected cargo, however, is said to have originated in Yemen - even though UPS does not offer direct service from that Middle East country. It is now being confirmed that another outbound plane at the Philadelphia airport is being inspected.

Additional reports are now saying that there were other suspicious packages originating in Yemen that were halted in Europe.

Yemini Airline is the feeder transporter for packages originating there going into the UPS global network. Yemini officials are saying this incident is a plot to discredit Yemen.

There are reports that the security moves started when a routine inspection at a distribution center near a small regional airport (East Midlands) in the center of the United Kingdom purportedly found a toner cartridge with suspicious wires attached to it and containing some type of white powder.

This finding triggered warnings that have led to the grounding and inspection of the other planes.  At least one plane in Philadelphia has been pulled to an isolated area as the FBI, which has taken the lead on incidents, inspects and investigates.

Cargo and passenger traffic has been slowed but not halted in Philadelphia and Newark for now, but how wide the impact is on the overall air network is unclear. Everything west of the Mississippi at least is said to be moving normally.

Some other area of the US is said to have similar concerns. Reports, for example, are that a UPS delivery truck in Queens, NY was also being examined for a potential suspicious package. Breaking reports say UPS trucks quantined in Queens and Brooklyn have now been cleared.

A Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland, Maine is now said to be being evacuated after another suspicious package was found on the grounds, though it is not at all clear it is in any way connected with the air cargo incidents.

The Department of Homeland Security is now saying there are concerns of multiple suspicious packages, including the Chicago and New York areas in addition to the Philadelphia and Newark airports, and is circulating to security authorities an image of a toner cartridge with wires attached. There were also initial news reports that there was evidence of something radioactive on one of the planes, but now those rumors are being discounted.

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