Dubai: The parcel bombs discovered at airports in Dubai and the UK were not "practical", a terrorism specialist told Gulf News yesterday.
"Using cell-phone detonation for devices on planes is not practical because of the unpredictability of the GSM signal strength during flight," Dr Adam Dolnik, Associate Professor & Director of Terrorism Studies, Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, University of Wollongong, Australia, said.
Similarly, using a timer is not practical "because the package or the plane can be delayed, and it is hard to guess when exactly it will be in mid-air to set the timer beforehand accurately," Dr Dolnik continued.
While two parcel bombs in Dubai and in the East Midlands, England, were intercepted, the UK Government said that the device they discovered was designed to explode while the aircraft was in flight.
However, Dr Dolnik said that from what he has seen in the media, the detonation mechanism "did not seem to be that practical".
Gulf News previously reported that technology bloggers speculated that the PCB (print circuit board) used in the bomb was that of a Nokia 6120 Classic mobile phone, after pictures of the device were released.
"We are aware of the speculation circulating on the internet," Tala Toukan, Communications Manager, Nokia, Lower Gulf, told Gulf News. "We have no further information on stories being reported. However, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and it saddens and appals us that mobile technology is being used in the heinous manner being reported."
Using a phone such as the Nokia 6120 Classic would have no real "benefits" for the device, as the phone in such a case is only required to provide a power source and to close a circuit: any phone with battery power and signal can be used for this purpose, he said.
"One advantage of using this classic older model has to do with longer battery life than is common in smartphones." The model has a standby battery life of 250 hours and is a relatively light 89 grammes.
While security sources told AP on Monday that they are working with authorities abroad to trace the serial number of bomb parts, Nokia confirmed that they have not been approached by police.
Both the US and Dubai said that the bombs bore the "hallmarks" of Al Qaida, which has tried to bomb aircraft in midcourse flight since 1994. Dr Dolnik said: "This is just another step in the persistent Al Qaida effort to down an airliner. They will continue trying."
