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| Down Under |
| Large haul of TATP found in Western Australia |
| 2013-10-31 |
| Probably not terrorism related. More likely gang/crime related. But illustrates how terrorist expertise spreads into run-of the-mill crime. BTW every Australian state has an area like Australind where bogan dole bludgers live. Cheap, fairly nice and distant from employment opportunities. A large haul of highly volatile TATP - the substance used in the London terrorist bombings in 2005 - was found by a member of the public at the Leschenault Estuary near Australind on Tuesday. It had to be destroyed by bomb squad officers in the Perth CBD on Wednesday. On Thursday, as divers scoured the estuary for further explosives or signs of how they got there, West Australian police revealed they had found a second item of interest. "WA Police have located and are examining a second object in the Leschenault Estuary. No further details available at this time," they tweeted. According to reports from the scene, the exclusion zone at the estuary has been widened to one kilometre. Senior police said on Wednesday that nothing was being ruled out in determining what the explosives could have been intended for, including a terrorist attack. After initially believing the chemicals were drug-making ingredients, police transported them from the estuary to Perth. But after realising their error, a major operation was launched. The explosives were delicately transported in an armoured vehicle from police headquarters to the Gloucester Park racetrack, where they were buried and detonated. Quite close to where I live, but I didn't hear the boom. It was done over five trips to reduce the volume of the highly volatile powdery substance being moved in one hit. Or disposed of in one big bang. State security officers, Jeez, I didn't know we had State security officers. Sounds Orwellian or Stalinesque to me. Probably just cops and the media jazzed it up to earn their bucks. chemical experts and major crime squad personnel are probing the case at state command centre premises last used during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2011. Police are expected to hold a media briefing later on Thursday. TATP is a crystalline explosive that can be manufactured from household ingredients and is known as "Mother of Satan". It's believed several kilograms of the chemical was found at Australind - a substantial amount given each of the explosives in the London bombings weighed at least 2.5kg. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #8 SteveS makes a good point. Large amounts of legitimate explosives here in WA, because of all the mining. Established crims would know how to get their hands on some. Also a big meeting of Asian foreign ministers in Perth in a couple of days time. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-10-31 22:22 |
| #7 Me thinks the product was meant to be sold to folks in Indonesia, India or the SE Asian area. |
| Posted by: Crash Cloger6733 2013-10-31 19:42 |
| #6 Maybe you should rename the police force in order to reduce confusion. You could call them The Road Warriors. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-10-31 16:48 |
| #5 Hadda look up bogan dole bludgers in Urban Dictionary. They sound like a Strine version of Pikeys. |
| Posted by: Dopey Sinatra 2013-10-31 15:25 |
| #4 A very unstable substance susceptible to heat, friction and shock. Maybe the problem will take care of itself. If not, the Aussies can feed the culprits, when caught, to the saltwater crocs. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-10-31 14:15 |
| #3 Seems like an awful lot of boom for generic criminality. And rather volatile stuff for your run-of-the-mill idiot minions to be handling. Easier to steal some dynamite if you want to blow up a rival's restaurant or taxi stand. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-10-31 12:26 |
| #2 SO why doesn't the police think it is more gang related than terror related. After all, Australia has been pretty vocal in their opposition to terrorism. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-10-31 11:57 |
| #1 West Australian police Of no interest to Americans, but it irritates the sh1t out of us that people in the East can't get the name of our state correct, in a country that only has 6 states. The state is called Western Australia, and the police force is called the Western Australian police. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-10-31 07:46 |