Fake Bomb Alert Closes Aldgate East Station

A pair of security men sparked a major operation yesterday when they left a pair of fake bombs on the back seat of their car. The twin devices, made of "artillery shell casings, mobile phones and Plasticine", were spotted in a Suzuki car. The alarm was raised, Aldgate East station closed, and some buildings evacuated. But upon inspection, the packages turned out to be fakes; the bungling men had used them as props in teaching City bigwigs about the dangers of improvised bombs. Yet leaving these things in plain view a day before an election, near a vital financial artery that was bombed in July 2005, mere days after a genuine car bomb attempt in Manhattan, you have to wonder: just what were they thinking?