Explosives found on Alitalia plane

Italian police discovered and safely removed explosives aboard an Alitalia passenger plane at an airport in eastern Italy after an anonymous tip-off, a police source said yesterday.

The small package of explosives, which had been tucked under one of the seats, was destroyed in a controlled blast after it was found aboard the aircraft at Ancona airport on Thursday afternoon.

Police were examining passenger lists yesterday while forensic experts were trying to determine the exact nature of the explosives.

Italian news agency AGI said there was no fuse or detonator in the package and that it could not have exploded no matter what type of material it contained. AGI did not give a source for the report.

"This is an extremely serious and worrying incident which shows there are gaps in the security system," Andrea Tarroni, head of Italy's main pilots' union, told AGI.

"The level of protection of the air transport system is not sufficient," he said.

The 42-seater plane had been due to fly to the Italian capital Rome on a scheduled domestic flight from Ancona at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) and passengers had not yet boarded the plane when the alarm was raised.

An airport source said the device was believed to have contained some 200 grammes of explosives which caused a large blast when detonated at a remote part of the airport.

Security services rushed to the airport following an anonymous warning to an Ancona police station. It was not clear who the caller was or why explosives were planted on the jet.

Italian media said the explosives were hidden inside a small box which had been fixed with adhesive tape to a life jacket under a passenger seat.

Italy has been on high alert for terror attacks since the September 11, 2001 strikes on the United States and authorities have arrested several Islamic militants accused of planning hits against high-profile targets around the country.

Meanwhile Italian police called off a search of two boats at Ancona yesterday and said specialist disposal teams had found no evidence of a bomb on board.

Bomb disposal teams were earlier called into the port of Ancona after an anonymous tip-off of a possible bomb planted aboard two high-speed catamarans used to carry passengers from Ancona to Zadar in Croatia.

"The alarm is over. We found nothing," a police spokesman told Reuters.