Searching for the X-Factor
“
...in the 2006 plot, consultant based in San Diego told me drink called ‘Tang’ (powder-based in
that “the bombers were attempting its as-sold form, so may have been
the terrorists planned to use a binary mixture of hydrogen pre-mixed with water)- onboard. With
peroxide (high concentration) and a their camera battery and small stash
to combine one concentrated sugar solution for the of crystalline TATP, one small jolt of
fuel, each smuggled on board in electricity and Kapow!
bottle containing separate containers that were loaded Eric Bergeron of Optosecurity in
by a syringe through a hole created, Canada points out that although the
the oxidant and the and later sealed, in the bottom of the technology to make a liquid peroxide-
bottle, to make it seem like the bottles based explosive is very old, it was
other containing the were unopened. The terrorists [would] not widely known until the 2006 plot.
mix the two components once on Now that the secret is out there will
combustible materials board the plane and use a homemade be no way of putting the genie back
detonator (TATP) concealed with its in the bottle.
- a sugar-based wires inside a hollowed out small So where does this leave us with the
battery. The triggering mechanism security issues? The result of the 2006
drink called ‘Tang’ – was to be the flash circuit from a LAGs restrictions on planes has caused
cheap camera.” a considerable degree of passenger
onboard...” So liquid peroxide-based explosives inconvenience and the search has
can and will work. Why use them? From been on for a way to make screening
ground based aircraft hull on television a terrorist’s point of view there are for liquid explosives as quick and as
to great effect. He points out that his several advantages over using solid- painless as possible.
device is “simply a solution of a sugar- state explosives. People feel a need Detectors for liquid explosives fall
based drink in concentrated hydrogen to carry liquids – be it water, hair-gel into five categories:
peroxide solution. It is an easily made or aftershave – with them including, of
and reliable explosive, easily initiated course, onto planes. Solid explosives, 1. Vapour or Trace Detection
deliberately and unlikely to be initiated by their very nature, will always be 2. Electromagnetic Methods
accidentally; it is powerful and of easier to identify. Also, as Peter Kant 3. X-Rays
high detonation velocity. Its greatest points out, such explosives need not 4. Raman Spectroscopy
inconvenience to the user is the matter be ready to use (with all the hazards 5. Neutron Methods
of having to concentrate your own that implies during transport to the
peroxide, since sale to amateurs is airport). They can also be binary, that In practice not all of these methods
restricted, and because of the danger is, mixed for detonation at the point are economically deployable in an
of getting the stuff on your skin or in of use. This was the case with the airport environment but in the last
your eyes.” 2006 plot, where the terrorists planned few months several new technologies
The 2006 plotters were apparently to combine one bottle containing the have become newsworthy - particularly
planning to use something very similar. oxidant and the other containing the in the X-Ray, Raman and Vapour and
Steve Wolff, an aviation security combustible materials - a sugar-based Trace Detection arenas.
One such is a device marketed
In the 2006 plot it is believed that the mechanism would have been the flash circuit from a cheap camera by a company based in Tony Blair’s
former parliamentary constituency of
Sedgefield, County Durham. Kromek
Technology (formerly known as Durham
Scientific Crystals) is a spinout company
formed by the University of Durham’s
physics department in 2003. Their new
liquid explosive scanner has completed
pilot trials at Newcastle Airport, has
been independently tested in the USA
and the UK and is about to enter further
trials at Manchester Airport among
several others.
The system is X-ray-based but uses
an unusual detector based on cadmium
telluride. As Kromek’s CEO, Arnab
Basu says “We shine an X-ray through
a bottle, even if it’s half-full it doesn’t
matter... and use a cadmium telluride-
30 Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting
www.asi-mag.com December 2009 Aviationsecurityinternational
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