![]() ![]() "The Bojinka Plot targeted, in part, Philippine Airlines Flight 434 from Manila to Tokyo, which resulted in the death of a passenger and a large hole being created in the aircraft." ![]() ![]() "Al Qaeda had been fixated on targeting aviation as early as 1994 when Ramzi Yousef, the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attack, tested liquid explosives on an aircraft during the Bojinka Plot," Hersem says. (Ali and several of his associates were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009.)īut that wasn’t the only justification law enforcement used for the liquids ban. If their plan had gone through, Hersem says that the result could have been an attack on seven planes flying out of London and heading for North America using, among other things, a hydrogen peroxide-based-liquid explosive. 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 that 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 says. 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 says. Hersem tells 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. #TSA LIQUID LIMIT SERIES#In the new 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. ![]() While the rule has lent itself to criticism and ridicule, intelligence agencies believe they had-and continue to have-a very good reason for instituting it. Those boarding planes can carry 3.4 ounces of liquid per container in a 1-quart bag, with one bag per passenger. TSA agents and passengers are expected to follow the “3-1-1” rule for liquids. The directive was put in place by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2006. Unopened bottles of water are tossed in waste bins.įor a mode of transportation that can cause dehydration, not allowing water bottles through security is particularly grating. Travelers already tired and weary from long spells sitting on planes and standing in gate lines can still muster up enough energy to grumble about restrictive airport security measures. ![]()
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