The ink bomb found at a British airport was defused just 17 minutes before it was due to explode, it was claimed yesterday.
Al Qaeda planners believed the plane carrying it would have been over the Atlantic or the U.S. mainland when it was primed to go off in a Lockerbie-style attack. But the plane made an unscheduled refuelling stop at East Midlands Airport because of the weight of its cargo. Such was the expertise of the bombmaker and the sophistication of the device that it took a bomb disposal expert seven attempts to establish that it was viable and defuse it. The bomb hidden in a printer cartridge contained 400 grams of the powerful explosive PETN – 50 times more than needed to punch a hole in the aircraft’s skin – and was wired to a mobile phone. The SIM card had been removed so it could not receive calls and the Yemen-based bombmaker set up either the alarm or timer functions to detonate the device.
French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said yesterday it had been ‘defused only 17 minutes before the moment it was set to explode’ but did not elaborate. (Daily Mail)