BERLIN - A bomb scare had the rear parking lots of a Taco Bell and Pep Boys automotive store on the Berlin Turnpike shut down Wednesday afternoon as officials examined a white Buick Century believed to have contained a bomb. At around 5:30 p.m., Berlin police officers and firefighters had put up police tape around the parking lot behind the Taco Bell restaurant near Rowley Street and were investigating what was believed to have been a bomb that detonated inside the vehicle.
"Somebody put some explosive devices in there and blew it up," said Berlin Police Capt. Larry Schubert. The windows of the vehicle were cracked and there was a fire inside the car, Schubert explained. "We put the fire out," he said. "We have one person in custody who admitted being a part of this and there'll be more arrests to be made because there's more than one person involved."
Police didn't release the name of the person arrested. The state Police Bomb Squad was called to the scene to make sure there was nothing else inside the vehicle, Schubert said. A bomb squad official dressed in protective gear searched the car with a flashlight. About an hour later, fire marshals and the bomb squad declared the scene was once again safe.
Officials are continuing to investigate why the bomb was detonated and what types of explosives were used. "It's too early in the investigation to find out," Schubert said.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17696464&BRD=1645&PAG=461&dept_id=10856&rfi=6
Authorities on lookout for stolen trailer containing explosives (Georgia)
January 10, 2007
Authorities were on the lookout Wednesday for a trailer containing 100 pounds of explosives stolen from a Henry County construction site.
McDonough Police say sometime between 5 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday, a trailer containing construction equipment and 100 pounds of gunpowder was stolen from a construction area behind the Henry County Courthouse.
A worker with Faith Technologies, an electrical contractor working on the renovation of the 110-year-old courthouse, told police the trailer contained a number of small canisters loaded with gunpowder used to charge a welding machine. The cargo trailer, a 2000 Pace trailer registered to Jimmy Spang of Jasper, Ga., also contained more than $3,600 in construction equipment, including 16 500-foot rolls of copper wire, according to a police report. The wire alone was valued at $800, the report said.
McDonough Police Detective Scott said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was notified of the theft and a description of the trailer, which had a Faith Technologies company logo on the back, was given to authorities in the area. “We’re pretty sure that whoever stole it did not know of the gunpowder and they were stealing the trailer for the tools,” Zebrowski said. “Hopefully, we’ll come across the trailer shortly,” he said.
http://www.henryherald.com/local/local_story_010195709.html?keyword=topstory
Bomb Scare Evacuation (UK)
Jan.11.2007
Police evacuated part of the city of London financial district near the Bank of England on Thursday because of a suspect package near a Turkish bank. "We were alerted to the incident shortly after 3.30 p.m. and officers are on the scene," a spokesman for the City of London police said.
He said the suspect package was on Prince's Street which is next to the Bank of England. He did not name the Turkish bank.
http://www.londonist.com/archives/2007/01/bomb_scare_evac.php
STOLEN EXPLOSIVES
Thanks to Oorang for this post:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761584/posts?page=653#653
and pointing to this article:
http://www.henryherald.com/local/local_story_010195709.html?keyword=topstory
JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities who arrested the former imam of Ohio's largest mosque after he was deported from a jail in Monroe County, Mich., have questioned him about the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, his attorney said Thursday.
Fawaz Damra, 46, was arrested because of ties authorities say he had 15 years ago with Islamic Jihad, said Smadar Ben-Natan, Damra's Israeli lawyer. Islamic Jihad, which is responsibly for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis, is classified by Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization,
Excerpted
Muslims have more right to Australia: sheik
Thursday January 11,2007
Sydney Muslim leader Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly has set off a new controversy, claiming Muslims have more right to be in Australia than the descendants of convicts. On Arabic television, he said westerners were the world's biggest liars and accused the media of trying to bring him down.
The sheik was invited to appear on Egyptian television to explain his sermon comparing women who show some skin, to uncovered pieces of meat that invite predators.
At the time, Sheikh al Hilaly claimed his comments were taken out of context, but on Today in Cairo he defended the remarks, blaming the media for the national outcry. "This is a calculated conspiracy aimed at terrorising our Islamic community, aimed at me first in order to bring the Islamic community to its knees," Sheik Hilaly said in Arabic. He went further, claiming Muslims had more right to be in Australia than the ancestors of convicts.
UPDATE to post no.653:
http://www.middletownpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17702694&BRD=1645&PAG=461&dept_id=10856&rfi=6
"Portland resident arrested in Pep Boys bomb scare"
By: Francine Maglione, Special to The Press
01/12/2007
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "BERLIN - An employee of the Pep Boys automotive store on the Berlin Turnpike who was arrested Wednesday afternoon, as well as at least one other employee, were responsible for creating the explosive device that went off in a car parked next to the store Wednesday.
Police arrested 19-year-old Jonathan Roath, of 6 Old Mill Lane in Portland, about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on charges of interfering with an officer, tampering with/fabricating evidence, manufacturing of bombs and first-degree breach of peace.
He was detained and held on $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Jan. 24.
Another arrest is pending, police reported. That warrant was issued at around 1 p.m. Thursday and is expected to be served soon, police said."