Aussies foil Islamic terrorist plot to bring down an airliner

Walt takes off his hat -- the one with the corks dangling from the rim -- to the Australian rozzers (= police) and government for their candour in saying, right off the bat, that they believe "Islamic-inspired terrorism" is behind the plot to bring down an airplane, foiled by the arrest of four men in raids on Sydney homes this weekend.

Aussie Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that security has been increased at Sydney Airport since Thursday because of the plot. "I can report last night that there has been a major joint counterterrorism operation to disrupt a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane," he told reporters. "The operation is continuing."

Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said he didn't yet have a lot of detail on the specifics of the attack, the location and timing. He could say only that "in recent days, law enforcement has been become aware of information that suggested some people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an improvised device." But, when asked if ISIS was behind the plot, Mr Colvin was politically incorrect enough to say, "We believe it's Islamic-inspired terrorism."

AP quoted Greg Barton, a "security expert" with Deakin University in Melbourne, as saying that the first plot to target aircraft in Australia, which is the highest aspiration of many extremists, was a "pretty big threshold moment." He went on to say that the plotters were apparently making a peroxide-based explosive device rather than using nitrate-based chemicals that can be detected by airport security swab tests.

Islamic fanatic Salman Abedi used a peroxide-based explosive, triacetone triperoxide, better known as TATP, to kill 22 concert-goers in Manchester, UK, just over two months ago. According to Prof. Barton, "TATP is called 'Mother of Satan' because it often kills the bomb maker because it's very unstable as it's mixed. But if it's mixed well, it can be very potent and a small amount can be enough to bring an aircraft down if it's done very, very expertly."

The plan most likely was to take the explosive on board in carry-on luggage unless there was a baggage handler involved who could ensure that a stowed bomb exploded near the fuselage where it would be most damaging. This may be the method used to cause the crash of Egyptian Airlines flight MS804 in May of 2016. French investigators called it an accident, but Walt suggests taking their findings cum grano salis. See "MS804: Where there's smoke there's fire", WWW 21/5/16.

Names of the four Mohammeds ["men", shurely! Ed.] arrested (but not yet charged) have yet to be released. Walt presumes they are, at this very moment, "helping police with their investigations". May I suggest that before the coppers put the rubber hoses away, they ask the detainees what they know about MS804, and, while they're at it, MH370. Sooner or later, the pieces of the Islamic jigsaw puzzle must fit together!