HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide intelligence sources now believe that concealment of devices continues, it
diamine) was used in the so-called both this - originally believed to have will pose considerable problems for
‘liquid explosives plot’, which was been hidden in the bomber’s rec- security officials regardless of the
exposed first in August 2006 when tum - and the Christmas Day device explosives used. Not only full body
17 British Muslim extremists were were built by the same bomb-maker. scanning, but also intimate body
arrested and charged with trying Saudi medics stated that the toxicity searches of suspect passengers may
to blow up 10 transatlantic aircraft of the plastic explosive (it was a 100 g become necessary.
using liquid explosives disguised in device) would have made the device Some airports have “puffer”
soft drinks bottles. After their retrial impossible to keep inside the rectum detectors which blow air on
and conviction in 2009, it emerged for many hours, and that the environ- passengers to collect explosive
that they had filled 500ml plastic soft ment in this area of the body would residue. Such a machine may have
drink bottles with pre-mixed TATP make detonation “difficult”. detected the PETN. However, the
dyed to imitate the original powdered machines are not yet in common use.
soft drink, which they removed with a Whither Security? Any effective detection technology
syringe injected through a moulding The evident concealment of the must account for more than 13,000
point in the bottom of the bottle to explosive charge in Abdulmutallab’s combinations of explosives, which is
avoid detection. underpants set off an instant warn- quite a challenge...
The HTMD was to be inserted into ing for airports to speed up the
hollowed-out batteries, which were installation of whole-body scanners The author is a CBRNE specialist and
to act as the detonator. The adapted to detect hidden materials on pas- author of “IRA: The Bombs and the
batteries were to be connected sengers. And if the trend for intimate Bullets”, Irish Academic Press
to a power source - a disposable
camera - via a miniature light bulb or
similar heat source, with the element
exposed. The devices would have
been assembled in the aircraft toilet.
Had the terrorists got on the flights
as planned, it is estimated that they
would have killed some 1,500 people.
Both TATP and HTMD, which was
also implicated in the 7 July 2005
attacks in London which killed 56
people, are made from commonly
available substances. PETN is less
so, but can be concocted, and is
becoming an explosive of choice for
al Qaeda and its franchise operatives
and would-be operatives.
Mixing concentrated hydrogen
peroxide (CHP) with a fuel can also
create a liquid explosive. Fuels such
as acetone and ethanol may be used,
and incendiary ingredients like black
pepper and sugary drink powders
can be used. Nitromethane can be
converted into a gel or slurry from a
liquid state.
Concealment
An incident where a PETN bomb was
hidden in underwear had already been
made months earlier, in August 2009
- for an unsuccessful assassination
attempt by an AQAP (al Qaeda on
the Arabian Peninsula) terrorist against
Saudi Arabia’s director of counterter-
rorism, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef,
who was injured by the bomb. US
February 2010 Aviationsecurityinternational
www.asi-mag.com 43
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