A Barbie doll and a meat grinder were both found filled with explosives and were going to be used by a Lebanese terrorist cell behind a plot to blow up an Emirati plane in Australia, officials said Monday.
The bombs didn’t go on the intended flight because they were hidden in a piece of luggage that was 15 pounds over the airline’s weight limit, Fox News reported.
Lebanon’s interior minister, Nouhad Machnouk, told Sky News that four brothers, who are Lebanese-Australian, are suspected of planning the attack. Two of the brothers are being held in Australia, another is being held in Lebanon, and the fourth brother is a member of the ISIS terrorist group based in Syria.
One of the brothers, Amer, was supposed to board the plane and work to bring it down 20 minutes after takeoff.
“The operation was foiled because of the extra weight,” Machnouk told The Associated Press. “Intelligence branch followed on the case and found that Amer was involved in this act and it appears that he was supposed to carry it out.”
“When four Lebanese brothers in Australia decide to blow up an Emirati jet this means that the whole world should work together to fight terrorism,” Machnouk added, per Newsweek. “Coordination should be 24 hours a day between all security agencies to stop such attacks.”
He added that about 400 people were on board the plane, including 120 Lebanese nationals.
Machnouk said that the four brothers wanted to punish the UAE and Australia for being part of an anti-ISIS coalition.
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