Terrorists ‘could use exploding breast implants to blow up jet’

* Radical surgeons may be carrying out operations in lawless areas of Pakistan
* Expert says female suicide bombers are known to have explosives inserted in breasts

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Breast implants packed with explosives could be used to blow up an airliner, the Telegraph newspaper quoted experts as saying on Wednesday.

Radical plastic surgeons could be carrying out the implant operations in the “lawless areas” of Pakistan, security sources are said to have warned.

Explosives experts have reportedly said just five ounces of Pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate packed into a breast implant would be enough to blow a “considerable” hole in the side of a jumbo jet.

It would be virtually impossible for airport security scanners to detect the explosive if hidden inside a breast, medics have said.

Bombers: Joseph Farah, a terrorism expert, told The Sun, “Women suicide bombers recruited by al Qaeda are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast-enhancing surgery.”

Plastic surgeons may also have inserted the chemical into the buttocks of would-be suicide bombers.

The discovery was reportedly made after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a London-educated Nigerian, attempted to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas with explosives packed into his underpants.

Hours after his attack failed, British intelligence services reportedly picked up “chatter” from Pakistan and Yemen that alerted them to the bizarre new method.

One plastic surgeon told The Sun, “Properly inserted, the implant would be virtually impossible to detect by the usual airport scanning machines.”

“You would need to subject a suspect to a sophisticated X-ray. Given that the explosive would be inserted in a sealed plastic sachet, and
would be a small amount, would make it all the more impossible to spot it with the usual body scanner.”