Defense, Friends Say Ore. Bomb Plot Suspect Set Up

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Mohamed Osman Mohamud on Monday pleaded not guilty to a charge related to his alleged involvement in a plot to detonate explosives at a recent Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore. During the hearing, the public defender representing Mohamud said that the plot–which was involved setting off six 55-gallon drums of explosives in a van at Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square–was part of a setup by the FBI. However, prosecutors defended the sting operation, saying that Mohamud opted to not back out of the plot and seemed to relish the carnage that would take place when the bomb was detonated. Prosecutors also noted that Mohamud dialed a cell phone number that he thought would detonate the bomb.

By : Armour National Security Group, LLC – (A New York Security Company)

Bomb Makers Plotted Blasts Over U.S.

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Investigators looking into the recent attempt to send explosives to the U.S. on board cargo flights believe they have determined the intent of those behind the plot. According to investigators, there are several signs that indicate that the bombers intended for the explosives to detonate while the cargo planes were in mid-air before they landed at their destinations. For example, the cell phones that the terrorists used as detonators had been altered to maximize their battery life. Authorities say that the changes, which included removing the screen face from the cell phones, could have allowed the devices’ batteries to last three to four days. In addition, officials say that the fact that the packages that contained the explosives had outdated addresses of synagogues in Chicago was another indication that the terrorists behind the plot wanted to detonate their explosives while the cargo planes were in mid-air. However, authorities do not believe that the terrorists would have had full control over where the devices would have detonated. It remains unclear whether the devices would have worked as designed.