Australian police charge two men over plane bomb, gas plots

[webfact]

Australian police charge two men over plane bomb, gas plots

By Jonathan Barrett and Tom Westbrook

 

New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson (L) and Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan speak at a press conference related to arrests in a foiled aircraft attack plot at the Australian Federal Police (AFP) headquarters in Sydney, Australia, August 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police said on Friday two men have been charged with terror-related offences involving plans to place a home-made bomb on a passenger flight leaving Sydney, and, separately, to build a device to release poisonous gas.

 

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner National Security Michael Phelan told a news conference the plot targeted an Etihad Airways flight and was "inspired and directed" by the Islamic State militant group.

 

Explosives for the device were sent to Australia via air cargo from Turkey and the bomb was assembled with assistance from an Islamic State commander, Phelan said, without identifying the person.

 

The device was disguised as a commercial meat mincer and taken to check-in counters at Sydney Airport on July 15. The plan was aborted and the bomb did not breach airport security, he said.

 

"This is one of the most sophisticated plots that has ever been attempted on Australian soil," Phelan said.

 

"The explosive was a high-end explosive ... I don't want to be specific because it's still under examination for the exactness of it, but high military grade explosive," he said.

 

Etihad had no immediate comment on Friday but said earlier this week it was assisting police with its investigation.

 

U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said this week that a foreign intelligence service had intercepted communications between the plotters in Sydney and Islamic State members in Syria. The officials declined to identify the foreign intelligence service.

 

Another U.S. official said the target of the bomb plot appeared to have been a commercial flight from Sydney to the Gulf.

 

Police arrested four men last weekend in raids across Sydney, Australia's biggest city. One man has been released while another is being held without charge under special counter-terror laws.

 

Domestic media have identified the two men who have been charged as Khaled Khayat and Mahmoud Khayat, who each face two counts of planning a terrorist act.

 

Phelan said that, in a separate event, the same men had also tried to create an improvised chemical device designed to release poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas, although he said there was no evidence to suggest that it would have been used in a plane attack.

 

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally that has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, has been on heightened alert since 2014 for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East, or their supporters.

 

However, it has suffered relatively few domestic attacks.

 

A gunman in a 2014 Sydney cafe siege boasted about links with Islamic State militants, although no direct ties with the group were established. The gunman and two other people were killed in the siege.

 

(Reporting by Jonathan Barrett and Tom Westbrook in SYDNEY Editing by Lincoln Feast and Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-04

[halloween]

So what if it had been hold cargo instead of carry-on. Would we be reading about another mass murder?

[1337markus]

3 hours ago, halloween said:

So what if it had been hold cargo instead of carry-on. Would we be reading about another mass murder?

No; research the story. The air pressure too low in cargo area.

[halloween]

4 minutes ago, 1337markus said:

No; research the story. The air pressure too low in cargo area.

A link would be nice. Why would low air pressure affect a bomb?

[flipflop99]

13 hours ago, halloween said:

A link would be nice. Why would low air pressure affect a bomb?

I suspect its because Bombs create a pressure wave  or over pressure on detonation. If there is a comparative low air pressure present  (eg  in a Cargo Hold vs a pressured passenger cabin) a larger amount of explosive is required  to create to sufficiently energetic and damaging over pressure effect.  

[1337markus]

18 hours ago, halloween said:

A link would be nice. Why would low air pressure affect a bomb?

Latest story in the Sydney saga is that they were two plans, one to sabotage an Etihad flight and the other to create a hydrogen sulphide bomb.
 

That raises an interesting scenario, in that H2S is heavier than air and the effect of the rate of change of cabin air on most aircraft.
 

 

So for that plan to work it would need to be released at a very high saturation and at a location forward and at the highest point of the aircraft (i.e. not in the hold or in the lower cabin of a two deck aircraft). There are various formulas that can calculate the required gas density and allow for the reduced cabin pressure, but they are beyond my chemistry skills. As a layman, I reckon they couldn't produce enough gas.

 

Hope this helps you Halloween.

[Scott]

Inflammatory post reported and removed.  

[boomerangutang]

Kudos to Aussie authorities for pursuing and catching the bad guys.   I got me thinking of a contrasting story where Thai police caught 3 Iranian terrorist bombers in Bangkok.  At least one of them (the woman who rented the house used for bomb-making) were allowed to slip back to Iran, because Thai authorities didn't want to adversely affect Thai-Iranian trade deals.

[Ace of Pop]

The Military should do the same as Thailand, take over and get some order back..


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