Unusual alerts from the freight haulers (UPS, FedEx)

[Phil Bunch]

There is a breaking news story on CNN and other news networks describing suspicious packages being found on air freighters belonging to UPS and perhaps FedEx.  Not sure of the FedEx association.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/29/security.concern/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

Several freighters have been isolated at various US and UK airports (Philadelphia, Newark, Chicago, UK midlands I think) due to terrorism concerns.  As best I can follow this breaking news story, it seems as if the suspicious packages may be explosives hidden in printer toner cartridges, allegedly from Yemen.  There is also a theory being presented by CNN that the packages were not armed and thus seemingly intended to raise alarms, scare everyone, probe the security systems, etc.

I've never understood how it would be possible to effectively screen all the freight coming in via container ships, air freighters, etc, etc.  While there are some hypothetical ways to scan packages for suspicious materials, as best I can follow, they aren't practical to use on every shipment or container.  I gather that passenger airliners may be more strict, though.