Author: B. Raman
Publication: South Asia Analysis Group
Date: August 10, 2006
URL: http://saag.org/papers20/paper1906.html
Operation Bojinka (meaning explosion or big
bang) refers to a thwarted plot of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) and Ramzi
Yousef, in association with other members of Al Qaeda, to blow up 11 passenger
aircraft flying from East and South-East Asia to the US on January 21 and
22, 1995.They reportedly intended causing the explosions by smuggling into
the aircraft liquid explosives concealed in bottles which are used for carrying
contact lens cleaning solution. They intended to set off the explosions through
timers. The plot was discovered by the Filippino authorities on January 6/7,
1995. Ramzi Yousef and KSM, who were planning to orchestrate the operation
from Manila, managed to run away to Pakistan. Ramzi Yousef, who was earlier
involved in the execution of the New York World Trade Centre explosion of
February, 1993, was subsequently arrested by the Pakistani authorities and
handed over to the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was convicted
and is now undergoing his imprisonment in a US jail. KSM orchestrated Al Qaeda's
9/11 terrorist strikes in the US and was arrested at Rawalpindi in March,
2003, and handed over to the FBI. He is presently in US custody.
2. The latest terrorist plot in the UK, whose
discovery was announced by the Scotland Yard on August 10, 2006, has all the
elements of the thwarted Bojinka of 1995--- simultaneous explosions on 10
passenger aircraft originating from the UK and going to the US and possible
use of liquid explosives concealed in bottles which would not cause suspicion.
The Scotland Yard are reported to have detained 18 suspects in the London-Thames
Valley area and three in the Birmingham area. They are believed to be British
nationals of foreign origin. While giving some details of the discovery, a
senior Scotland Yard official emphasised that the arrests were not directed
at any community but at criminal elements in order to protect the travelling
public. This would indicate that the arrested persons were probably Muslims.
3. This discovery has come in the wake of
a warning issued by Osama bin Laden through an audio message on January 19,
2006, in which he offered a truce to the American people if the American forces
were withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan. It carried an implied warning that
if his offer was rejected, another terrorist strike in the US homeland would
follow for which, he claimed, preparations were already under way.
4. The discovery by the Scotland Yard indicates
how public transportation systems continue to be the favoured targets of the
jihadi terrorists and how despite the considerable strengthening of physical
security in civil aviation, they have not given up their attempts to find
ways of staging spectacular strikes against civil aviation. Since 9/11, the
tightening of physical security all over the world has been the strongest
in respect of civil aviation and nuclear establishments.
5. The conventional wisdom has been that of
all public transportation systems, it is easier to ensure the effective security
of civil aviation than of other means of transport. This discovery shows that
the jihadi terrorists continue to look for loopholes in civil aviation security,
which they can exploit.
6. This also shows the continued quest of
the pro-Al Qaeda jihadi terrorists for simple substances, which can be procured
and carried without causing any suspicion and then converted into explosives.
It is believed that the explosives used in the 7/7 London blasts were self-fabricated
with such substances of day-to-day use.
7. This would call for a re-look at the present
civil aviation security infrastructure. One may have to consider banning permanently
all duty-free sales on board aircraft and encouraging passengers to do their
duty-free shopping at their place of arrival and not before their departure.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd.),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com)
