Cargo plane in UK "may have been terror target" - Home Sec.

LONDON, Oct 30 (KUNA) -- The target for an explosives device found on a cargo plane in the UK may have been the aircraft itself, UK Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday.
A major international terror alert was sparked after security staff found printer cartridges with wires attached in cargo hubs at East Midlands Airport in the UK and Dubai yesterday.
Speaking after a Cobra meeting, the UK Government's emergency planning committee to discuss the security situation, May said: "The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down." May said: "I can confirm that the device was viable and could have exploded.
"The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down. We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.
"Our investigation remains sensitive. We are working closely with international partners to increase our understanding of this case and of course to bring those responsible to justice." She continued: "At this stage there is no information to indicate another attack is imminent." May said the threat level was at "severe", meaning a terrorist attack is "highly likely" and there was no plan to change the level at this stage.
But she said: "We must take further precautionary measures. I have agreed with the Transport Secretary (Philip Hammond) that we will take immediate action to stop the movement of all unaccompanied air freight originating from Yemen into or through the UK.
Direct cargo and passenger flights from the Yemen were suspended in January this year for security reasons following an earlier attempt to bomb an aircraft destined for Detroit, she noted.
She said the police and intelligence agencies were working "tirelessly" on the case.
May said she had been in regular contact with Prime Minister David Cameron and briefed him following the Cobra meeting.
She said: "The Government's key aim is to keep the UK safe. I will be monitoring progress and further statements will be made as necessary." Earlier Dubai Police said the package discovered on a plane in Dubai contained explosives and an electrical circuit linked to a mobile phone SIM card.
The finds have been linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen.
Both packages were addressed to synagogues in Chicago, and were on Chicago-bound cargo planes that had set off from Yemen in the Middle East.
The suspicious package in Britain was on a UPS plane that flew in from Yemen's capital Sanaa.
It was discovered in the early hours of yesterday following a tip-off from Saudi intelligence sources, press reports said. Police evacuated the centre and put up a security cordon around the airport.
A spokeswoman for Heathrow said the airport was running as normal today.
She said: "There has been no effect on our operation at all. We take our lead from the Government and we have not been asked to increase security at this time." Concerns about other devices prompted major security alerts across US cities. United Parcel Service (UPS) jets in Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, were moved away from terminal buildings and two fighter jets escorted an airliner travelling into New York from Dubai.
The terror alert followed calls this week from airline bosses that existing security procedures such as shoe and laptop checks should be scrapped.
US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is in contact with May, told Sky News: "The security system has no one silver bullet in it. You have to have multiple layers.
"This layer started with good information from the Saudis. We were then immediately able to work with other countries, particularly the UK, the UAE, to segregate these packages, to begin the analysis about what they were, what they could have done," said Napolitano A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Initial forensic examination of items removed from a US-bound cargo plane at East Midlands Airport on Friday 29 October suggests that the package was a viable explosive device.
"There are early indications to suggest it had the potential to bring down an aircraft in flight if detonated. Tests are ongoing to establish further details about the nature of the device." He said the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command was liaising with agencies both in the UK and abroad. (pickup previous) he.bs KUNA 302052 Oct 10NNNN