-Caveat Lector- http://www.ab.sympatico.ca/news/Fullstories/n122814.html SYMPATICO NEWSEXPRESS NATIONAL NEWS Wed, Dec 29th Explosives found in alleged terrorist's car more sophisticated than originally thought VANCOUVER (CP) - The alleged terrorist caught trying to enter Washington state from Canada was smuggling explosives far more sophisticated than originally reported. The FBI originally announced that Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian living in Montreal, was carrying nitroglycerin, a highly unstable substance that can be made with a few simple ingredients. But the chemicals found in the trunk of Ressam's rental car were far more advanced than nitroglycerin, says Dave McCulloch, senior inspector of explosives with Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa. An indictment handed down in U.S. District Court in Seattle lists three chemicals carried by Ressam, including cyclotrimethylene trinitramine, known in the explosives industry as RDX. Manufacturing RDX in a homemade laboratory would have been almost impossible, McCulloch said in an interview with the Vancouver Sun. "RDX is the active component in plastic explosives," McCulloch said. "It's the most difficult of the three to synthesize. Chances are, it might have been reconstituted from plastic explosives.' McCulloch said most plastic explosives are restricted to military purposes but there are some licensed commercial applications in industries such as demolition or mining. A terrorist would likely obtain such explosives through the black market. "There have been thefts of plastic explosive during the years," he said. "It has a long shelf life, and when the right buyer comes along, there are criminals out there who make it available." One of the other chemicals found in the car, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine - known to chemists as HMTD- is a more common substance. Its major component can be readily concocted from commercially available products and combined with an acid that would produce HMTD ready for use as a primary explosive. The HMTD and RDX would be used to set off a normally benign - and easily available - urea nitrogen fertilizer. The otherwise-harmless fertilzer can explode with 92 per cent of the intensity of dynamite if it is ignited by a sufficiently powerful explosion, McCulloch explained. Terrorist bombs routinely employ such a chain reaction. Circuit boards found in Ressam's car contained a commonplace wristwatch and battery leads. McCulloch said these would likely be attached to a battery with a lead wire entering the HMTD. At a predetermined time, the circuit would be completed, the wire would glow red and that would cause the HMTD to explode. That, in turn, would touch off the RDX, which would then touch off the fertilizer. The third chemical found in Ressam's trunk was ethylene glycol dinitrate, composed of the base of common antifreeze and an acid. That substance is usually mixed with nitroglycerine to reduce the freezing point of dynamite, McCulloch said. It could also have been mixed with the fertilizer "to make sure the whole thing shoots, and shoots in high order," he said. © The Canadian Press, 1999 -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
