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NYPD gives details of July 7 bombs

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The remains of the Number 30 bus in Tavistock Square, where 13 people and the bomber died.

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- The bombers responsible for the July 7 blasts in London used commonly available products to make their explosives, New York police have told security officials.

The details were revealed in a briefing with private security officials on Wednesday.

Through a law enforcement source, CNN confirmed the information disclosed during the meeting between New York Police Department officials and security heads from an array of organizations, including financial institutions, hotels and schools. The briefing was part of an effort to increase terrorism vigilance in the city.

The information was based partly on information learned by NYPD detectives dispatched to London after the bombings to monitor the investigation, the law enforcement source said.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the NYPD had clearance from British authorities to present the information during the briefing.

Asked about the release of the information by the NYPD, Andy Trotter, deputy chief constable for the British Transport Police, told CNN: "It's unhelpful at the moment. It's not the sort of thing we would be releasing right now."

In Britain, Trotter said, "we tend to keep this information to an absolute minimum." But, he said, authorities are "very much focusing on what we can do right here and right now."

According to the NYPD, investigators in London believe the bombers used a peroxide-based explosive called HMDT, or hexamethylene triperoxide, which can be made with such common items as hydrogen peroxide, which is used to bleach hair; citric acid, a food preservative; and heating tablets used by the military for cooking.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told those in attendance that while it was initially thought the bombers used high-end military explosives, it was "more like these terrorists went to a hardware store or some beauty supply store."

Because HMDT degrades at room temperature, the bombers preserved it in a commercial freezer that had been installed in a "flophouse" in Leeds where the material was stored, Michael Sheehan, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, told security officials at the meeting.

He said the presence of a refrigerator in such an incongruous setting should have been "an indicator for a problem."

British investigators also believe the bombs were transported in coolers carried by two cars to the outskirts of London, according to the NYPD, and the bombs were detonated by using alarms on cell phones that were set to go off at 8:50 a.m.

Similar explosive compounds were used in four attempted transport bombings in London on July 21, although the detonators used in the second set of attacks were activated by hand, rather than timed, according to the NYPD. None of those bombs exploded.

Kelly warned the security personnel at Wednesday's meeting that the materials and methods used in the London attacks could easily be adapted for use in New York. Sheehan told them that the types of organizations with which the bombers are believed to have affiliated "are very much present in New York City."

"That's something we're studying very, very carefully," Sheehan told attendees. "This could happen here."

A law enforcement source also told CNN that the NYPD's counterterrorism and counterintelligence departments are looking into whether a sweatshirt worn by one of the suspects in the July 21 attempted bombings in London might have been a "symbolic gesture."

A surveillance photograph released by British police showed Ramzi Mohammed wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "New York" on the morning of the incidents.

A massive security operation was under way in London on Thursday, exactly four weeks after the July 7 bombings. (Full story)

Service resumed on the Piccadilly line, where 26 people died, along with the bomber, between King's Cross and Russell Square. The entire network is now back to normal service.

The first person charged in Britain in connection with the attempted July 21 bombings of London's mass transport system will remain in police custody until August 11, when another hearing will be held, a magistrate ruled Thursday.

Ismael Abdurahman, 23, from London, appeared in Bow Street Magistrates Court. He is accused of aiding the July 21 bombers when they were on the run.

Abdurahman allegedly withheld information on the one or more of the suspects between July 23, two days after the botched attacks, and July 28, the day before two of the alleged bombers were apprehended during an armed police raid in London.

Italian authorities Thursday scheduled an extradition hearing for Hamdi Issac, charged with terrorism under Italian law, but also being held on a European Arrest Warrant from Britain.

Issac is a suspect in the July 21 attempted bombings. His extradition hearing is scheduled for August 17, according to the judge's office handling the case.

CNN Senior Producer Shannon Troetel and Producers Maureen Madden and Roger Clark contributed to this report.

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