U.S. officials say they intercepted in September a possible dry run for last week's foiled mail bomb plot as several countries banned air travel from Yemen.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official familiar with details of the shipments said a shipment of household goods may have been sent to test the logistics and security of the air cargo system in September.
"We received information several weeks ago that potentially connected these packages to AQAP. The boxes were stopped in transit and searched. They contained papers, books and other materials, but no explosives," the official told The Associated Press.
The packages were seized, searched and found to contain no explosives before being sent on to their destination addresses in the U.S.
After an international effort narrowly averted the shipment of two explosive-laden packages from Yemen to Chicago last week, authorities are now hunting for 28-year-old Saudi bombmaker Ibrahim al-Asiri.
Intelligence officials say al-Asiri, who is believed to be working with the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda, likely designed the body-cavity bomb that killed his own brother in a failed attempt to kill a top Saudi counterterrorism official, as well as the underwear bomb intended to blow up a crowded Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas Day.
Compared to the Christmas bomb, a German security official said Monday that the two sent last week contained four times the amount of industrial explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN. Both bombs were wired to cellular telephone circuitry, but officials have not yet determined whether they were intended to be detonated in-flight or on the ground.
Officials began to unravel last week's plot on Thursday, when United Arab Emirates authorities identified a suspicious package at the FedEx facility in Dubai.
A search at East Midlands Airport in central England uncovered a printer toner cartridge packed with explosives the following afternoon.
A 22-year-old female engineering student suspected of sending the packages was arrested by Yemeni authorities shortly after, but she was released on Sunday, after officials said that someone forged her name and phone number on the shipping manifest.
In the days since, fearing the possibility other explosive shipments may yet be undetected, security officials in the U.S. and its allies including Canada have moved to restrict the flow of cargo from Yemen. Britain has also extended its restrictions to halt air cargo from Somalia, and Germany has stopped passenger flights from Yemen.
Yemen condemns rush to judgment
In a statement issued to Yemen's state-run SABA news agency Tuesday, an official said Germany's move to stop commercial travel is an overreaction.
Such a rushed decision will, "only serve al Qaeda terrorists who have been seeking to achieve such results to damage Yemen's interests and its relationships with friends and regional and international partners," the unnamed government source said.
Amidst heavy pressure to crack down on terrorist activity, Yemeni prosecutors also moved Tuesday to charge Anwar al-Awlaki, the spokesperson for Al Qaeda in that country. The radical English-speaking, U.S.-born Islamic cleric is credited with helping making the Yemen branch of al Qaeda its most active affiliate.
Al-Awlaki and another suspect were charged in absentia, as part of a trial against a third man accused of killing a French national in an Oct. 6 attack at an engineering firm compound. According to the prosecutor, al-Awlaki incited 19-year-old accused shooter Hisham Assem in emails and audiotapes that justified the killing of foreigners. The proceedings have been adjourned until Saturday, to give prosecutors time to issue a public notice of the new charges.
U.S. counterterrorism officials believe al-Awlaki was linked to the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of last year's killings at Fort Hood, Texas, and helped prepare would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
The U.S., which will send approximately US$300 million in military, humanitarian and development aid to Yemen this year, wants al-Awlaki dead or alive.
So far, no one has taken responsibility for last week's failed attack.
With reports from The Associated Press
