PRESIDENT BARACK Obama said two packages shipped from Yemen and directed to Jewish institutions in Chicago contained explosive materials, representing a “credible terrorist threat” against the US.
The discovery, made by authorities in the UK and Dubai, triggered an examination of air-cargo flights in the US today and spurred United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp to put an embargo on shipments from Yemen, where groups linked to al-Qaeda are known to operate.
Mr Obama was notified about the case at 10.35pm on Thursday by John Brennan, his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, setting in motion a response that included the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Mr Brennan said the two packages were addressed to two synagogues. The first was found in East Midlands in the UK, he said refusing to disclose details of how the US learned of the package. He didn’t name the synagogues. Mr Gibbs said neither was directed to the synagogue near President Obama’s home in Chicago.
The president said he and his top intelligence aides concluded that there was “a credible terrorist threat against our country” and pledged to “destroy this al-Qaeda affiliate” based in Yemen.
One package was found at a FedEx facility in Dubai, said Maury Lane, a spokesman for the Memphis, Tennessee-based company. UPS hasn’t confirmed whether the UK package was at one of its facilities. The Atlanta-based company said the Federal Bureau of Investigation checked packages on three jets from Europe, two of which landed in Philadelphia and the other in Newark, New Jersey.
A search of aircraft in Philadelphia is continuing, according to a law enforcement official. A search in Newark was completed earlier.
The alert comes on the heels of the arrest of a Virginia man who justice department prosecutors say participated in what he thought was an al-Qaeda plot to bomb subway stations in the Washington area.
Farooque Ahmed (34) of Ashburn, a US citizen born in Pakistan, is being held without bail. Yemen also figured in the US inquiry of the last major security threat on a US jetliner, the attempted bombing of a Delta Air Lines plane on December 25th last. President Obama told reporters in January that evidence indicated that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was trained and equipped by a Yemeni group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Checks for explosives are required for all 4.2lbs billion of freight shipped on passenger planes annually within the US, plus goods on flights headed for international destinations, under a US rule that took effect in August. UPS, the world’s largest package-delivery company, screens shipments that will be carried on passenger jets, although it doesn’t have to screen cargo on its own planes, according to the company’s website.
– (Bloomberg)