late october 2010, intelligence officials intercepted two packages that were bound for the united states from yemen. the packages were headed for chicago. inside those packages were printer cartridges that had been turned into very powerful bombs. explosive material had been loaded into the printer cartridges along with the circuit board from a cell phone. those bombs by all accounts was fully functional. one was minutes away from blowing up when it was intercepted and diffused. the reason why this is bombs were discovered was not because of x-ray detection or bomb-sniffing dogs or something, they were made successfully in a way that would have evaded all of those anti-explosive technologies. the reason the printer cartridges were caught at all was because of a tip what appears to possibly have been an al qaeda double agent with saudi arabia intelligence that this plot was under way. saudi officials shared that information with u.s. intelligence. that included the tracking number of th
functionally, one minutes away from blowing up when it was intercepted and defused. the reason why this is bombs were discovered was not because of x-ray detection or bomb-sniffing dogs or something, they were made successfully in a way that would have evaded all of those anti-explosive technologies. the way they were discovered at all was because of a tip from what appears to possibly have been an al qaeda double agent with saudi intelligence that this plot was under way. saudi officials shared that information with u.s. intelligence. that included the tracking number of those packages, and that s how they were able to track and stop the printer cartridge bomb plot. those totally undetectable packages got out of yemen, made it as far as germany in within case, and as far as the uk in one case. they were ready to be transferred onto planes bound for the united states. they were only found due to that tracking number and that tip. eventually, al qaeda in yem p,
saudi officials shared that information with u.s. intelligence. that included the tracking number of those packages and that s how they were able to track and stop the printer cartridge bomb plot. those totally undetectable packages got out of yemen, made it as far as germany in within case and as far as the uk in one case. they were ready to be transferred onto planes bound for the united states. they were only found due to that tracking number and that tip. eventually, al qaeda in yem p, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula took responsibility for those bombs, and the cargo plane bomb. that s how the al qaeda got the top tier in designation as the most dangerous terrorist group in the world. because it was them they successfully got significant quantity of explosives onto
bill: peter, is there a certain threat out there they re picking up on we need to know about? reporter: they say they re playing ahead of terrorists instead of playing catch-up. they said there are hundreds or thousands of people carrying american or european airports to potentially fight in syria. they could get on board to go back to their home country. abc news reported that those westerners looking to carry out an attack are picking up pointers from innovative terrorists behind the underwear bomb, al qaeda in arabian peninsula, who were able to sneak an explosive device on the airplane and almost blast it out of the sky over the u.s. they were behind the printer cartridge bomb plot in 2010. homeland security director j. johnson says there are not plans to overhaul screenings for domestic flights. bill. bill: peter doocy, leading our coverage in washington.