Officials said the bombs were meant to explode during their flight to
the United States.
"We believe the device was designed to go off on the airplane," British
Prime Minister David Cameron said. "We cannot be sure about the timing when
that was meant to take place."
On Oct. 30, the UAE reported that a parcel intercepted in Dubai
contained a powerful bomb that appeared to have been assembled by Al Qaida, Middle East Newsline reported.
Dubai police said the parcel, discovered on late Oct. 28, contained a
cellular phone detonator as well as the powerful explosive pentaerythritol
tetranitrate, or PETN.
"The investigation into the suspicious packages that came from Yemen has
shown a computer printer, the ink of which contained explosive material,"
the UAE police said. "The device was prepared in a professional manner and
equipped with an electrical circuit linked to a mobile telephone card
concealed in the printer. The manner in which this device was prepared bears
the hallmarks of those used by terrorist organizations like Al Qaida."
Officials said Saudi Arabia relayed the alert of the suspicious packages
to Washington while Britain and the UAE authorities identified the packages.
They said Washington has since been working with Yemen in the search for Al
Qaida suspects.
"I would say that the CT [counter-terrorism] cooperation right now with
Yemen is better than it's been ever before," White House counter-insurgency
adviser John Brennan said. "That doesn’t mean that it can't improve more.
It needs to improve more."
For its part, Yemen reported the arrest of a suspect identified by the
United States. At the same time, Sanaa denied that the cargo aircraft with
the parcels left from Yemen.
"No UPS [United Parcel Service] cargo planes took off from Yemen to
other countries, there are no direct flights from Yemen to the United
Kingdom or the United States," a Yemeni government statement said on Oct.
30. "UPS planes never land or take off in Yemen."
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