Bomb squads shut down Military Trail between Summit and Forest Hill boulevards after a police dog indicated there may be an explosive device in a gold four-door Ford parked outside Auto Zone, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's officers arrived on the scene at about noon to assist federal immigration officials. According to officials at the scene, a man wanted on an immigration warrant was arrested at about 11 this morning.
A sheriff's dog alerted its handler that the car had an explosive device, prompting the sheriff's office to call in the bomb squad. Its unknown whether there is a bomb. The road remained closed as of 2 p.m. The sheriff's office is using a robot to examine the vehicle.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/07/05/0705bombsquad.html
Egyptian police seize large cache of explosives in northern Sinai
July 5, 2007
EL ARISH, Egypt: Egyptian police found more than 1,200 kilograms (2,650 pounds) of TNT explosives Thursday buried in a northern desert on the Sinai Peninsula, a police officer said.
Capt. Mohammed Badr of the northern Sinai police force said officials discovered the explosives using a tip from local Bedouins and were investigating who had buried them. The TNT was found in 27 plastic sacks near al-Raouda village, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the border with the Gaza Strip, he added.
Excerpted
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/05/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Explosives.php
A sinister twist emerged in the doctor bombings case last night when it emerged two of the UK suspects tried to get jobs in Australia.
Brothers Kafeel Ahmed and Sabeel Ahmed applied for jobs with the Western Australia Health Service but were rejected on character grounds. It was also revealed the pair were cousins of Gold Coast Hospital registrar Dr Mohammed Haneef, who remains in custody.
WA medical officials confirmed one of the brothers applied using different names on "several occasions". "We are co-operating with the AFP and doing everything we can to assist them," Australian Medical Association WA spokesman Geoff Dobbs said. It was also revealed by Channel 9 News that the second man arrested in Queensland, Mohammed Asif Ali, had also applied in WA and was rejected.
Excerpted
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22024288-5006009,00.html
Fake bomb eludes airport test
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport during a test of the facility's Transportation Security Administration screeners, according to individuals familiar with the incident. The unannounced inspection by TSA officials took place early last week. The airport's security measures failed in five of seven tests, most of the problems occurring at the passenger checkpoint, the sources said.
In one test, TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints. The screeners at Albany International confiscated the water bottle but missed the bomb. In all, the inspectors slipped four banned items through the main checkpoint during the test, sources said.
The TSA, which took over security at the nation's commercial airports after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, conducts random tests of its workforce on a regular basis and failures are common, officials said. Paul Varville, the TSA's security director at Albany International, could not be reached for comment. Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, declined to discuss the circumstances of the covert test at Albany International. "We don't discuss the results because they tend to paint an inaccurate picture of the competency of our work force," she said. "The tests are designed to be incredibly difficult and TSA does anticipate a fair level of failure." Screeners who flunk the test routinely receive immediate training on the mistakes to improve their detection skills, according to officials familiar with the spot checks.
Last October, the Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark, citing unnamed federal security officials, reported screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport flunked 20 of 22 tests, including failing to detect bombs and guns in luggage at checkpoints. The TSA responded to the report by launching an internal investigation in which federal employees were interrogated about whether they had leaked the results, the newspaper said.
Not all of the TSA's checks are done at passenger checkpoints. In some instances, TSA inspectors try to gain access to restricted airport areas and see how many employees they can get by before someone asks to see or verify their credentials. At two airports in Houston last month, TSA officials swarmed the facilities as security and "behavior detection" officers conducted random screening of approximately 5,200 employees and passengers at boarding gates, according to the TSA.
Five employees with expired airport security badges were found as were two who did not have credentials. The expired badges were confiscated and the employees in violation were escorted off airport property, according to a TSA news release. Davis said security screeners who fail tests must undergo extra training in addition to annual recertification exams. "These covert tests conducted by security personnel simply augment their training regimen," Davis said.
PBSO bomb squad searches car, finds nothing July 5 2007
WEST PALM BEACH -- Authorities closed part of a busy road while bomb experts searched a car driven by a foreign national after a police dog smelled something suspicious in the vehicle Thursday afternoon. No traces of a bomb or anything suspicious was found in the car in the parking lot of Auto Zone west of West Palm Beach, officials said.
Deputies closed a section of Military Trail between Summit and Forest Hill boulevards for about two hours so the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office bomb squad could search the four-door car. The search was conducted because a bomb-sniffing dog smelled something suspicious in a car driven by an Iranian man who federal immigration officials took into custody, authorities said. The man, whose name authorities did not release, was detained because his supervised release from jail was withdrawn, officials said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-705bomb,0,4115150.story?coll=sfla-news-palm