Female student arrested
Monday, 1 November 2010
A female engineering student has been arrested in Yemen on suspicion of posting the packages containing bombs found on two cargo jets in Dubai and Britain, reports BBC.
The 22-year-old woman, named locally as Hanan al Samawi, was traced through a phone number left with a cargo company. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, said the information that identified her was provided by the US and the United Arab Emirates.
She was arrested at a house in a poor area in the west of Sana'a, where she is studying medicine at the university. Her mother was also arrested, but is not a prime suspect according to her lawyer.
The bomb intercepted in Britain on its way to America was designed to explode in mid-air and may have been targeted at the UK.
David Cameron said he believed the device was constructed to detonate while the aircraft was in flight. He said a plot to blow it up over British soil could not be ruled out.
The Prime Minister's dramatic intervention came as the investigation into the plot was centring on one of al-Qaeda's most senior commanders.
The 22-year-old woman, named locally as Hanan al Samawi, was traced through a phone number left with a cargo company. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, said the information that identified her was provided by the US and the United Arab Emirates.
She was arrested at a house in a poor area in the west of Sana'a, where she is studying medicine at the university. Her mother was also arrested, but is not a prime suspect according to her lawyer.
The bomb intercepted in Britain on its way to America was designed to explode in mid-air and may have been targeted at the UK.
David Cameron said he believed the device was constructed to detonate while the aircraft was in flight. He said a plot to blow it up over British soil could not be ruled out.
The Prime Minister's dramatic intervention came as the investigation into the plot was centring on one of al-Qaeda's most senior commanders.