Terror plot: Sept flight may have been dry run

In September,after US counterterrorism agencies received information linking the packages to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,the terror networks branch in Yemen,intelligence officers stopped the shipments in transit and searched them,said the officials,who would discuss the operation only on the condition of anonymity. They found no explosives,and the packages were permitted to continue to what appeared to be random addresses with no connection to the terrorist group in Chicago.

At the time,people obviously took notice and knowing of the terrorist groups interest in aviation considered the possibility that AQAP might be exploring the logistics of the cargo system, one of the officials said,referring to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The test run might have permitted the plotters to estimate when cargo planes carrying the doctored toner cartridges would be over Chicago or another city. That would conceivably enable them to set timers on the two devices.

The September shipments were first reported by ABC News late Monday,which also noted that Inspire,the English-language magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,recently published a picture of the Chicago skyline.

One of the officials said that when the US intelligence agents received a tip from Saudi officials last week that bombs might be on cargo flights to Chicago,analysts recalled the incident and factored it in to our governments very prompt response.SCOTT SHANE amp; ROBERT F WORTH