US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has announced that two packages intercepted en route to America earlier today appeared on initial examination to contain explosive material. The Associated Press have just reported the update on today’s terror alert in which a package was seized from a UPS plane that was stopped in East Midlands airport in England, and another from a cargo facility in Dubai.
The planes in which the packages were carried had originated in the US and President Obama says that they were apparently bound for Chicago and Philadelphia. At the White House, Obama called the incident “a credible terrorist threat against our country”, according to USA Today.
An area at East Midlands airport was sealed off this morning after the “suspect package” was found on board a UPS plane which landed there. CNN reported that the plane was en route to Chicago from Yemen and stopped in the British airport. Investigators found a package which contained an ink toner cartridge which had been interfered with – although at first it was believed it did not test positive for explosive material. It did, however, have wires attached to it.
The find put US security forces on alert for cargo flights arriving at American airports. Two UPS planes at Philadelphia airport and one UPS plane at Newark airport were also investigated for suspicious packages, as was a UPS truck in New York City. The plane that landed at Newark had also arrived via East Midlands airport, which is near Nottingham and is Britain’s largest air freight terminal.
Another suspicious package was found at a cargo facility in Dubai, having emanated from Yemen. An Emirates flight from Dubai carrying a package from Yemen was later met at New York’s JFK airport by US law enforcement authorities.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said:
This is only because there is cargo from Yemen on the flight. There is no known threat associated with this cargo or this flight.
Yemeni authorities are investigating the incidents.
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