![]() ![]() ![]() The surveillance, which included secret cameras and listening devices in Ali’s apartment, resulted in the discovery of a bomb-making laboratory and the fleshing out of a number of co-conspirators.”Īt one point during their surveillance, investigators witnessed Ali drilling a hole in a soft drink bottle so it could be filled with an explosive liquid while still appearing to be unopened. “Based on his associations in Pakistan and the items in his luggage, a layered surveillance program was instituted by MI5, with assistance from the London Metropolitan Police. “Ali’s bags were secretly searched when he returned to the UK and a powdered orange soft drink along with a large number of batteries were found in his suitcase,” Hersem said. Operation Overt was the term used to describe a collaborative effort to foil the plot of Abdulla Ahmed Ali, a British citizen who had known affiliations with radical Islamists and terrorists he connected with during frequent trips to Pakistan. “The banning of a certain quantity of liquids from airline flights in 2006 was the direct result of the intelligence uncovered during Operation Overt,” Hersem said. In 2018, Hersem told Mental Floss that the liquids ban has roots in two separate terrorist plots. Among those individuals contributing to the show is Steve Hersem, the former deputy director of the CIA’s Community HUMINT (Human Intelligence) Division. In the 2018 Netflix series Terrorism Close Calls, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials go on record with details of a number of potentially catastrophic attempts to target civilians that were thwarted by law enforcement. And we’ve certainly paid the price for that.TSA is strict to protect passengers’ safety. He added: “It is incredibly complex and doesn’t lend itself to a sound bite. “The size of the container itself,” he added, “is part of the security measure.” “With certain explosives you need to have a certain critical diameter in order to achieve an explosion that will cause a certain amount of damage.” “Holy smokes! Three ounces in a one-quart baggie! Who made that one up?”īut the science, he said, is clear. Separate three-ounce containers limited in number to what will fit inside a single one-quart bag do not have “enough critical diameter” to blow up an aircraft, he said. ![]() Tests showed that a container of a certain size is needed for an effective explosion. “We didn’t want to be in a position of opening all those bottles,” he said. In response, officials banned liquids altogether and then, after laboratory testing here and abroad, came up with the formula of limiting liquids and gels to three-ounce containers in a single quart-size bag “as a way to allow for people who wanted to bring liquids on board,” Mr. In August 2006, the thwarted terrorists were planning to use “a formulation that was specifically put together to get around our screening measures,” he said. But one friend said that her liquids had been confiscated at a checkpoint recently because they weren’t in containers with “manufacturers’ labels,” Ms. Several of her friends purchased generic plastic three-ounce containers for their shampoos and other liquids. Zadrozny, an editor with Weekly Reader Publishing, found that out while planning a trip with some friends recently.īefore the trip, there was much discussion about the liquids rule. The security administration’s rules on liquids are clearly spelled out on its Web site, (Click on “For Travelers” and then “3-1-1 for Carry-ons.”) The rules state that a passenger may carry on liquids and gels only in separate three-ounce containers in a single quart-size plastic bag, with a limit of one bag for each passenger.īut, as they say in the Army, there are always about 10 percent of the troops who don’t get the word. That rule was imposed after terrorists in Britain tried to sneak liquid explosives in planes in August 2006. Much of the current discontent comes from enforcement of the requirement that various liquids and gels carried on a plane must be in individual containers of three ounces or less. ![]()
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