Video Surveillance Captures Airport Workers with Laptop Used in Somalia In-Flight Jet Blast

Video Surveillance Captures Airport Workers with Laptop Used in Somalia In-Flight Jet Blast

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Feb 08, 2016

Somali intelligence officials say two airport workers handled a laptop containing a bomb that later exploded a passenger plane.

In a video captured by the airports surveillance system, one airport worker takes the laptop and hands it to another employee. The employees then hand it over to a man who was killed when the laptop explosion blew a hole in the plane’s fuselage. Both workers have been arrested.

Investigators suspect Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh carried the laptop computer with a bomb in it onto the plane and knew exactly where to sit to maximize damage. Given the placement of his seating, the blast likely would have set off a catastrophic secondary explosion in the fuel tank had the jet reached cruising altitude.

Thankfully, the explosion happened at a lower altitude, between 12,000 feet and 14,000 feet, killing Borleh as he was sucked out of the hole in the jet’s wall create by the bomb. Two others were injured.

Preliminary tests show the bomb contained a military grade of explosive TNT, but was not strong enough to bring down Daallo Airlines Flight 3159. The pilot was able to turn the plane around and safely land in Mogadishu.

There have been reports that there is “absolutely zero” security at the airport in Mogadishu, leading to the sophisticate planned attack. Officials of the airlines have since realized the lapses and are adding extra layers of security to ensure suspicious items and people are not allowed on board airplanes.

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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