Police and Homeland Security officers at Philadelphia International Airport and Newark Liberty airport are investigating a possible bomb scare involving UPS cargo planes.
UPDATE 3:40 p.m. FRIDAY: President Barack Obama speaking from the White House said Friday afternoon that investigators discovered a “credible terrorist threat” against the United States with explosive material found on two suspicious packages that were bound for the United States from Yemen. The packages were found in Dubai and the United Kingdom.
An area of East Midlands airport – Britain’s largest air freight terminal – was sealed off after investigators found a suspicious package containing a toner cartridge on a United Parcel Service plane bound for Chicago.
‘Sinister’ Device Indicating the Situation Today is Dry Run
Britain’s largest air freight terminal at East Midlands Airport was sealed off after investigators found a suspicious package containing a toner cartridge on a United Parcel Service plane bound for Chicago. At 3:30 a.m. U.K. officials discovered a toner cartridge in a package on the plane had been manipulated and found wires attached to it and white powder. Some pundits considered the events of the day a dry run, but John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, stated that dry runs typically do not involve explosives.
The cargo on the plane bound for Chicago did not leave England.
Multiple suspicious packages … a plane that arrived from Cologne, Germany was not allowed to take off from Philadelphia.
U.S. official got tip of packages headed to synagogues.
Officials are taking precautions that the devices that came from Yemen were intended for Chicago synagogues.
Synagogues in the Chicago area have been warned to be on alert.
The Jewish United Fund/ Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF) is the central philanthropic address of the Jewish community of Chicago and is one of the largest not-for-profit social welfare institutions in Illinois.
Two suspicious devices were discovered in packages in flight. Both packages originated from Yemen. Additional security for other suspected packages.
Three destinations with suspicious packages are identified. Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA and Chicago, IL. The planes en route to Newark and Philadelphia reached their destinations with the suspicious packages. The plane en route to Chicago was held at the East Midlands Airport in England.
Of the packages that reached the United States, one package came via London, one came from Cologne, Germany and one package arrived via Dubai.
An Emirates Airways jetliner was escorted by fighter jets because a package was tracked from Yemen and known to be in the aircraft. The action was a precaution, and no known threat existed to the aircraft.
A commercial passenger jet carrying cargo from Yemen was escorted from the Canadian border to New York City by two military fighter jets, U.S. officials said. The officials said there is no known threat associated with the plane.
UPS and FedEx have suspended all packages from Yemen.