Dubai: The United Arab Emirates aviation authority is investigating a claim by Al Qaida that it was behind the September 3 crash of a UPS plane in Dubai, but has found no link so far, an official said on Saturday.
Al Qaida's Yemen-based wing — Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — claimed responsibility on Friday for the UPS plane crash in Dubai, in which two crew members died, as well as for a foiled plot to send explosive parcels to the US last week.
"Based on the information we retrieved from the black box and the eyewitnesses who were there when the crash happened, there is no evidence that this crash happened because of a terror act," said Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Civil Aviation Authority, to Gulf News on Saturday.
Al Qaida claims
"So far, there is no link between whatever Al Qaida is claiming and the crash itself, but that doesn't mean we're not taking it seriously. This investigation is still going on and at the end of the process we will know the cause of the action."
When asked why he thinks Al Qaida is claiming responsibility when evidence shows otherwise, he said, "Maybe they have their own agenda and something behind this."
With regard to the security measures at the moment, he said: "This won't happen again in the UAE as we are aware 100 per cent of their trial of trying to penetrate our security system. We have taken the best measures right now in regard to the security and I believe we have one of the best security systems in the world. Our security system is perfect and will not be penetrated."
A US counter-terrorism official in Washington said there were strong indications that AQAP was responsible for last week's foiled cargo plane plot but the United States could not confirm the group was behind the September 3 UPS crash.
AQAP claimed it planted a bomb on a jumbo jet belonging to US delivery giant UPS near Dubai airport on September 3, and that authorities had kept the cause of the crash quiet.
"We downed the plane belonging to the American UPS company, but because the media of the enemy did not attribute responsibility for this work to us we kept quiet about the operation until the time came that we hit again," it said.
Weeks after the UPS crash, the group placed two additional bombs on flights operated by cargo carriers UPS and FedEx, according to AQAP.
Credible warning
A credible warning that Al Qaida's branch in Yemen was planning a terrorist attack against the United States was given by Saudi Arabia to Washington as early as early October, The New York Times reported late Friday.
Citing unnamed US and European officials, the newspaper said the Saudi warning came days after US officials intercepted several packages in mid-September that contained books, papers, CDs and other household items shipped to Chicago from Yemen.
US intelligence services believed those parcels might be a test run for a terrorist attack.
— With inputs from agencies
Ill-fated flight: Chain of events
Chain of events that led up to the crash of the ill-fated UPS plane on September 3.
6.53pm - The GCAA confirmed that flight UPS6 B744 departed from Dubai International Airport at 6.53pm local time, headed for Koln-Bonn (Cologne), Germany.
7.15pm - Information was received from Bahrain that the aircraft was returning to Dubai airport reporting smoke in the cockpit and struggling to maintain altitude.
The pilot had requested the airport to land the aircraft immediately.
The UAE Air Traffic Control (ATC) centre issued a clearance when the aircraft was approximately 40km from touchdown.
However, because the UPS plane was high on approach - at 8,500ft and 24km from touchdown - it overshot the airfield and was forced to make a sharp right turn.
New position reports were passed to the tower, as well as advice that all runways were available for the aircraft to land on.
The aircraft tracked southwest and rapidly lost altitude.
7.42pm - Radar contact was lost.
The B744 finally crashed in an unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain highway, 50 minutes after departure and after returning back from Bahrain Flight Information Region.
