Newsstand - French Police Find Plastic Explosive on Plane

French Police Find Plastic Explosive on Plane

French police found plastic explosives on Wednesday on board a Royal Maroc charter plane that landed in the northeastern French airport of Metz from Marrakesh, French and Moroccan sources said on Thursday.

A French judicial source said French police discovered 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of explosive without a detonator in the arm rest of one of the seats, wrapped in aluminum paper.

The source said the explosive could be the same type of material allegedly used by accused shoebomber Richard Reid, who has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to destroy an airliner departing from Paris with 97 people on board in December by detonating explosives in his shoes.

The Paris prosecutor's anti-terrorist division has launched a probe and sent experts to identify the explosive.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-france-explosive.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64177,00.html

PARIS — Explosives of the same type as found on alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid were discovered on a Moroccan jet after passengers left the flight at an airport in eastern France, authorities said Thursday.


Officials said there was enough explosive material to blow up a plane.

There was no detonator attached to the 3 ounces of explosives discovered in the passenger section of a Royal Air Maroc airplane on Wednesday night after it landed at the Metz-Nancy-Lorraine airport, according to police.

Judicial sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the explosive material as pentrite and said it was the same as the substance Reid, a British citizen, allegedly tried to detonate on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22.

The airline refused immediate comment on the case.

The explosives found Wednesday were wrapped in aluminum foil, police said, indicating it might have been in transit for delivery. The Boeing 737 originated in Marrakech.

Judicial sources said they had been unable to find a fuse mechanism needed for detonation.

"Officials said there was enough explosive material to blow up a plane".

THREE ounces? Wow, never knew it was that powerful.

Semtec is incredibly powerful, and thus incredibly deadly in the wrong hands. From what I know, and that's very little, the precise placement is quite critical!

oz....

being an ex-military type who has played with "plastique"....yes, it is that powerful.

I remember placing a charge in a small compact sized car on the weapons range with about 2-3 ounces of C4 (the military name) and watching it literally blow apart as the doors flew off....the windows blew out and the car lifted about 1-2 feet off the ground.

The funniest part was my "introduction" to the stuff. Our instructor took out a brick (the same size as a house brick) and lit it on fire with his zippo lighter. Well...... you have never seen 20 privates run as fast as I did on that day. The stuff burns....but does not explode unless triggered by detcord or a blasting cap.


[This message has been edited by Carioca Canuck (edited 09-28-2002).]