Interpol issues details of cargo bombs

Interpol, the largest international police organisation in the world, issued a global security alert to its 188 member countries today after explosives were found on two US-bound planes last week.

The memo, known as an Orange Notice, provides details of the home-made bomb found hidden in a printer cartridge on board a plane from Yemen destined for Chicago at East Midlands Airport last week.

It also includes information about a similar package seized at the FedEx cargo hold in Dubai from another plane heading to Chicago from Yemen.

Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble said: “The information contained in this Orange Notice will allow police services and other law enforcement agencies to take all appropriate measures to identify potentially lethal devices, and we particularly thank the Interpol National Central Bureau in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Police for their close co-operation in this regard.”

Speaking ahead of the Interpol General Assembly in Qatar on Monday, Mr Noble added: “Given that these devices were hidden inside what appeared to be normal packages, an unrestricted version of the Orange Notice has also been published by Interpol.

“We have seen on many occasions that vigilance by members of the public can be crucial in alerting law enforcement to potential threats, as evidenced by the arrest of the Times Square bomb suspect in May this year in New York.

“What is clear is that vigilance and information-sharing are essential, and, as the world’s largest police organisation, it is our primary mission to ensure that the information needed to help protect citizens and secure borders is where it needs to be.

“The decision to share information via Interpol means that each of our 188 member countries can benefit from the thorough investigations being carried out by all of the affected countries, which may prove vital in assisting global law enforcement prevent future attacks.”

The Orange Notice includes photographs and technical details of the devices as well as key features of a suspicious package.

Interpol said common indicators included packages which felt unbalanced, used an excessive amount of wrapping tape or had a “strange odour”.

It also said suspect letters or packages might have an invalid return address or a badly typed label.

The box seized in Dubai, shown in photographs on the Orange Notice, was heavily sealed with FedEx and Falcon Aviation Services tape and had anomalies in the address.

The package found in the UK contained a mobile phone battery and a detonator fixed to a motherboard as well as the explosive powder pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN).

Interpol described it as a “functional device” which was “powerful enough to bring down the aircraft.

Parts of East Midlands Airport were sealed off after the device was found on October 29.

Direct flights from Yemen to the UK were suspended by Home Secretary Teresa May and a ban on toner cartridges was imposed for at least a month.