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Somali arrested last month at Mog airport with chemicals, syringe
 | Apparently whoever in the US government who heard about this wasn't allowed to share it with DHS, TSA, FBI and the Trilateral Commission. Firewalls, you know. |
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu 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.
| An actual arrest? Well done, O AU Peacekeepers! Would that Dutch airport security had done as much. |
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.
| Of course, the actions of a terrorist, caught red-headed, in Detroit make you a criminal defendant. See how much more enlightened we are? |
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.
| I'll trust the airplane engineers on this one -- they seem to think that an explosive decompression in an airplane at high altitude is a real bad idea ... |
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
| A overly refined locution compared to "sewn into his undies" |
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.
| Just don't breach any firewalls. We wouldn't want to violate Abdulmutallab' rights after all ... |
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.
| How about that. Yemen is the new capital of al-Qaeda it seems, though al-Q may be basing a fair bit of the farm team in and around Mog. |
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.
| Always put yourself in the middle, Mahmoud, that way you don't call attention to yourself. |
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.
| You'd think that would have worked; it's Mog after all ... |
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.
| It sounds like there was no attempt at concealment here as there was for the Detroit knickerbomber. (A wonderful term, Skunky Glins****.) |
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.
| Let me guess: they fly the vaunted Ilyushin-74 with maintenance handled by Air Ukraine ... |
Posted by: Steve White 2009-12-31 |
