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| Britain |
| FBI experts testify in Irish al-Qaeda trial |
| 2005-09-15 |
| Arabic-language plans for a bomb hidden in a baby's milk bottle could produce an explosion strong enough to destroy an airliner, U.S. experts testified Wednesday in the trial of an Algerian man accused of links to al-Qaida. Abbas Boutrab, 32, was arrested near Belfast in 2003 with 25 computer disks filled with instructions on building compact bombs and other weapons and on smuggling them onto a plane. He denies any terrorism links, insisting he downloaded the material from the Internet out of curiosity. Handcuffed and seated between two police officers, Boutrab did not speak Wednesday. His trial in Belfast Crown Court is being held without a jury, a system ordinarily used in Northern Ireland to prosecute alleged members of the British province's homegrown terror groups. Prosecutors contend that Boutrab - who unsuccessfully sought asylum in the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom using several aliases - has links to al-Qaida. They cite cell phone records and other unspecified documents seized at Boutrab's home. Donald Sachtleben, an FBI explosives expert, testified Wednesday that he built and detonated three bombs based on instructions found in Boutrab's home. Sachtleben said the tests - involving a 7-ounce mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar and baby powder - demonstrated the bottle bombs could be exploded in a car or plane. He said the last test showed the explosion could tear apart nearby passenger seats and puncture a plane's fuselage. He said such a bomb ``would be likely to cause significant damage to the aircraft and cause injury or death to the persons on board.'' He said it also could ``cause catastrophic failure'' of a pressurized aircraft if exploded at high altitude. Another FBI investigator, Robert Keller, showed the court videotape of the test explosions, which were carried out at an FBI facility in Virginia last December. At the time of his arrest, Boutrab was seeking work in Northern Ireland using a false passport in the name of Fabio Parenti, an Italian tourist whose passport was stolen at Dublin airport Sept. 1, 2001. Police initially arrested Boutrab on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant, but found the bomb instructions during a search of his home. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Al-Qaida but not Irish. No self-respecting Irishman would become Al-Qaida. Come to think of it not even a non self-respecting Irishman would become Al-Quaida. That will happen when pigs fly. |
| Posted by: John Q. Citizen 2005-09-15 07:47 |
| #1 I have this mental picture of about 2 years from now when the only way anyone will be premitted to fly on any aircraft is chained naked in your seat, with a fresh set of clothes waiting at the destination air terminal. Stupidity rampant only breeds more stupidity. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-15 01:04 |