Thread: Al Qaeda Bombers Learn from Drug Smugglers

This is a terrrifying development. Consider the ramifications regarding air travel and crowded areas such as sports stadiums, shopping malls and the like.

Storing Bombs Inside Bodies



Security officials are concerned over a tactic newly employed by al Qaeda. Sheila MacVicar reports suicide bombers are now storing explosives inside their bodies in order to avoid detection.



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Suicide bomber Abdullah Asieri, avoided detection by two sets of airport security and palace security by smuggling a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator in his rectum. Al Qaeda has developed a new tactic that allows suicide bombers to breach even the tightest security, as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports.



Inside a Saudi palace, the scene was the bloody aftermath of an al Qaeda attack in August aimed at killing Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia's counter terrorism operations.



To get his bomb into this room, Abdullah Asieri, one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted men, avoided detection by two sets of airport security including metal detectors and palace security. He spent 30 hours in the close company of the prince's own secret service agents - all without anyone suspecting a thing.



How did he do it?



Taking a trick from the narcotics trade - which has long smuggled drugs in body cavities - Asieri had a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inserted in his rectum.



This was a meticulously planned operation with al Qaeda once again producing something new: this time, the Trojan bomber.



The blast left the prince lightly wounded - a failure as an assassination, but as an exercise in defeating security, it was perfect.



The bomber persuaded the prince he wanted to leave al Qaeda, setting a trap.



Al Qaeda has an animated movie showing the meeting between the bomber and the prince. Asieri says more senior al Qaeda figures want to surrender and convinces the prince to talk to them on a cell phone.



In the conversation recorded by al Qaeda, you hear a beep in the middle of two identical phrases that are repeated by the bomber and his handler.



Explosives experts tell CBS News that beep was likely a text message activating the bomb concealed inside Asieri.



The Trojan bomber hands the phone to Prince Mohammed. He's standing next to him, and 14 seconds later, he detonates.



"This is the nightmare scenario," said Chris Yates, an aviation security consultant.



On a plane at altitude, the effects of such a bomb could be catastrophic. And there is no current security system that could stop it.



"Absolutely nothing other than to require people to strip naked at the airport," said Yates.



And al Qaeda says it will share its new technique via the Internet very soon. There is nothing that can stop that either.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...html?tag=stack

The fact it failed as an assassination means there's really not much point in doing it. What good is it to breach security if you can't harm the target?



And why blow yourself up if you can't take anyone with you? I don't see this becoming a real problem, and I seriously doubt hiding stuff in body cavities was invented by drug smugglers.

[quote name='Blueneck' date='29 September 2009 - 07:46 AM' timestamp='1254228418' post='29665']

The fact it failed as an assassination means there's really not much point in doing it. What good is it to breach security if you can't harm the target?



And why blow yourself up if you can't take anyone with you? I don't see this becoming a real problem, and I seriously doubt hiding stuff in body cavities was invented by drug smugglers.

[/quote]



Not a real problem? Really?

"This is the nightmare scenario," said Chris Yates, an aviation security consultant.



On a plane at altitude, the effects of such a bomb could be catastrophic. And there is no current security system that could stop it.

[quote name='Bourne' date='29 September 2009 - 09:10 AM' timestamp='1254229817' post='29672']

Not a real problem? Really?

[/quote]



You want people who get on planes to submit to cavity searches?



Look, it said the guy was standing right next to the prince and the prince was only slightly wounded. He's made of flesh and blood, not fusilage. If they couldn't damage him that much, what are the chances of blowing up a plane?



It seems to me the big prize in having done this is to scare the shit out of the authorities by showing there is a possiblility of getting one over on existing top security measures.



Maybe we could just require everyone getting on a plane to take a laxative first. It would make the trip rather unpleasant, but we would be safe.

[quote name='Blueneck' date='29 September 2009 - 09:43 AM' timestamp='1254235388' post='29701']

You want people who get on planes to submit to cavity searches? [/quote]



I never suggested that.



[quote name='Blueneck' date='29 September 2009 - 09:43 AM' timestamp='1254235388' post='29701']Look, it said the guy was standing right next to the prince and the prince was only slightly wounded. He's made of flesh and blood, not fusilage. If they couldn't damage him that much, what are the chances of blowing up a plane?[/quote]



Detonating a similar device in a pressured airframe would have catastrophic consequences.



[quote name='Blueneck' date='29 September 2009 - 09:43 AM' timestamp='1254235388' post='29701']It seems to me the big prize in having done this is to scare the shit out of the authorities by showing there is a possiblility of getting one over on existing top security measures.[/quote]



Which is a goal of the terrorists. Incite fear by presenting the possibility that no matter what, no one is safe from them.



[quote name='Blueneck' date='29 September 2009 - 09:43 AM' timestamp='1254235388' post='29701']Maybe we could just require everyone getting on a plane to take a laxative first. It would make the trip rather unpleasant, but we would be safe.

[/quote]



I take it then that the very real possibility of a terrorist using this technique on an aircraft is of no concern to you.

[quote name='Bourne' date='29 September 2009 - 11:15 AM' timestamp='1254237337' post='29719']



Detonating a similar device in a pressured airframe would have catastrophic consequences.[/quote]



Do you mean if a whole was blown in the side of the plane and it lost pressure? Like in the movie "Airport" or for some other reason? I'm really not sure what the consequences would be exactly.

I take it then that the very real possibility of a terrorist using this technique on an aircraft is of no concern to you.

Not as much as I worry about sabatage at a nuclear power plant or chemical plant or lots of other things. If they ever figured out a way to disrupt commerce any more than the recession already has, I'll worry a lot about that.