Exposing the Weakest Link: As Airline Passenger Security Tightens, Bombers Target Cargo Holds
The latest terrorism scare, involving a pair of explosive packages bound for Chicago from Yemen, has shed light on a new target for bombers--aircraft traveling to the U.S. whose cargo holds either have not been inspected, or if they have, by x-rays and bomb-sniffing dogs that are not sensitive enough to root out certain types of explosives. Would-be aircraft bombers have proved successful at smuggling pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) into aircraft cabins concealed in shoes and underwear , but fortunately have been unable to detonate this high-powered, military-grade explosive in flight. The latest plot placed one PETN bomb and detonator in a cargo plane and another in the cargo hold of a passenger plane, where they were less likely to be detected. [More]