Somali Arrested In Mogadishu With Chemicals

AS AFGHAN INSURGENTS KILL EIGHT CIA AGENTS

Los Angeles (THEWILL) - Somali authorities say they arrested a Somali who is a member of the Al Shabaab, a terrorist group, in November while attempting to board a Dubai-bound plane with liquids, syringes and some quantities of suspicious white powder believed to be PTEN (pentaerythritol), a deadly bomb.

Authorities said the attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest plane might have helped them solve a puzzle.

An official told Reuters that they had initially thought the chemicals were for use in a popular “black dollar” scam called ‘wash wash’ in which fraudsters lure unsuspecting victims into thinking they can turn black neatly cut papers into US dollar bills.

"Before, we thought these were for washing the money we had seized. But the incident at Detroit shows the similarity of the chemicals," Ahmed Ali Aftooje, chief of police at Mogadishu airport, told Reuters.

"He was carrying empty syringes, liquid and powder separately in the same bag," he said.

Three top officials, Somali Security Minister Abdullahi Mohammed Ali, Barigye Ba-hoku, a spokesman for AU peace keeping mission in Somalia and a senior officer at the National Intelligence Service all confirmed that a man with suspicious chemicals was arrested and detained at the airport.

A source said the Somali man refused to board the plane when he was told he would not be allowed to fly with the bag, he said he needed the bag to treat his cattle and his farm. In the argument that ensued, two police officers at the screening gate were able to identify him as a member of a hardline insurgent group, Al Shabaab.

The United States government had long identified Al Shabaab as an affiliate of Al Qaeda in that part of Africa.

Aftooje also told Reuters that the commercial plane the Somali had tried to board on November 13 had mainly Muslim passengers so it was unlikely that the plane was the target of the bomb chemicals he was carrying. The plane was scheduled to make stops at Somaliland and Djibouti, according to airport officials.

Meanwhile, Afghan insurgents on Wednesday killed eight CIA operatives at a military base in Afghanistan while some other persons were wounded in a suicide bomb attack, according to US authorities. The base is in the Southeastern Khost province.

The Canadian Defence Ministry has also announced the death of five Canadians including a journalist working for the Calgary Herald Newspaper in a roadside bomb explosion, which occurred when their armoured vehicle came under attack in the Southern Kandahar Province on Wednesday.