Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Yemen crackdown in wake of parcel bombs

Updated at 9:41 pm on 1 November 2010

Yemen has announced a crackdown on all cargo shipments after two United States-bound bomb parcels were sent from the country.

Qatar Airways says a package containing explosives was flown from Sanaa to Qatar's capital, Doha, and then on to Dubai on one of its aircraft.

The bomb had an explosive known as PETN, which is difficult to detect using normal airport security screening, hidden inside a computer printer with a circuit board and mobile-hone SIM card attached.

The other parcel was found at East Midlands airport in central England and apparently travelled through Cologne.

Britain, Germany and France have banned all freight from Yemen from entering their countries, including in transit.

One of the two bombs posted from Yemen last week was carried on two passenger planes before it was seized in Dubai.

United States freight companies UPS and FedEx were used to carry the devices, which were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.

British authorities say the bomb seized in England was believed to have been designed to go off in mid-air.

Qatar Airways says the explosives were sophisticated and could not be detected by X-ray screening or sniffer dogs.

They were discovered after an intelligence tip-off from Saudi Arabia.

Suspect named

US officials have said a Saudi-born bomb-maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, 28, is the prime suspect for constructing the devices.

He is believed to be one of the leading figures in al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula.

He was the organiser of a suicide attack by his brother last year on the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Mohammed Bin Nayif. The prince survived the attack, in which PETN was also used.

US officials believe the person who constructed the printer bombs also built the underpants bomb used in a unsuccessful attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day last year.

US counter-terrorism chief John Brennan described the suspect as "a very dangerous individual".

Copyright © 2010, Radio New Zealand