Thank you Tubavil.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034885/posts "U.S. Officials Fear Socks Represent New Way to Smuggle Bombs Aboard Planes"
ABC News ^ | ABCNEWS Investigative Unit
Posted on 12/05/2003 4:14:37 PM PST by freeperfromnj
ARTICEL SNIPPET: "A New Tactic?
Dec. 5— Authorities in the United Kingdom are examining a pair of blue socks, which they believe contain key components of an improved explosive device that could be used in future terrorist airline hijackings, intelligence sources told ABCNEWS.
Intelligence officials believe the socks were designed to be filled with explosives and tethered and worn around a potential bomber's neck, a source told ABCNEWS. With the explosives concealed in this fashion, a bomber could gain access to an aircraft and assemble the improvised device once on board.
The socks were seized during the Nov. 20 arrest of Sajid Badat, 24, in Gloucester, England. British authorities have charged Badat with conspiring with would-be "shoe bomber" Richard Reid in an explosives plot.
Reid was sentenced to life in prison in the United States for attempting to detonate explosives concealed in one of his shoes during an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001. Badat is also accused of "unlawfully and maliciously" possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or damage property.
Forensic evaluation of the socks by British police revealed traces of several explosives, including TNT, PETN and RDX.
A Department of Homeland Security bulletin circulated Wednesday to aviation authorities in numerous U.S. jurisdictions said: "The socks, which were held together with a string, appeared to be elongated as if they were stretched out from carrying something.
"While it is not clear exactly in what capacity the individual may have been using the socks, it is possible the suspect may have been suspending the socks from around his/her neck or under outer garments in an effort to conceal explosives carried in them," said the bulletin. "It also cannot be discounted that these tethered socks were components of an improvised explosive device in the making. ""