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Britain
Secret war to stop dirty bomb attack
2010-01-20
A SECRET war is underway to stop terrorists smuggling deadly "dirty bombs" into Britain, it was revealed yesterday. Hi-tech machines have been installed at major ports to detect materials which could be used to build the devices.

The covert operation was disclosed by an official not authorized to disclose the operation Government security supremo Lord Alan West in an exclusive interview with The New York Times The Sun. He also revealed there will be a big rise in the use of dogs to sniff out explosives.

Lord West stressed they could have snared the underpants bomber who tried to blow up a jet in Detroit. The peer, former head of the Royal Navy, said: "There is no doubt that terrorists still want to go for the big spectaculars - things like aircraft and dirty bombs. We have put in a whole range of measures to stop them but cannot be complacent. We have to be vigilant."

Lord West revealed security "portals" were set up under an operation called Project Cyclamen to monitor substances coming into the UK.

"They are already in a number of ports and other places and will be going into more. This has been highly complex because the technology is very difficult but I believe we have a world-beater."

Dirty bombs - known as "the poor man's nuclear weapon" - are crude devices that combine simple explosive with any radioactive material. They are designed not to cause instant carnage and destruction like traditional bombs but to contaminate whole areas, kill thousands with disease and spark panic.

He also outlined plans to use more sniffer dogs to detect explosives.

He said one of the full body scanners being introduced by the Government would have had only a 60 per cent chance of picking up Umar Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a jet on Christmas Day with explosives in his pants. But a sniffer dog would have detected him.
Posted by:Visitor

#2  TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > PAKISTAN: ONLY TEN PERCENT OF NWFP IEDS, MINES ARE DEFUSED.

Lotta them are still out there, + Princess Diana is not around/alive anymore to call for international action.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-01-20 21:35  

#1  Whats the odds they originate from Pakistan?
Posted by: Paul2   2010-01-20 13:09  

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