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Bomb detector used in Iraq ineffective, maybe fraudulent
Source: Agencies |
January 25, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN has banned the export of a hand-held bomb-detection device to Iraq and Afghanistan, months after the United States military warned that the product is ineffective and fraudulent.
The ADE651 device made by the British company ATSC is used at security checkpoints across Baghdad, and its makers claim it can detect explosives at a distance.
But Britain's Department for Business Innovation and Skills halted the export of the ADE651 after a BBC TV "Newsnight" investigation aired on Friday challenged its effectiveness. The broadcaster took the key aspects of the device to a laboratory, which concluded that a component intended to detect explosives contained technology used to prevent thefts in stores.
"Tests have shown that the technology used in the ADE651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection," the department said in a statement.
A British news agency reported that police have arrested the company's director on suspicion of fraud.
The findings on the ADE651 back up the US military, which has had concerns about the device for months. The military does not use it, and in June 2009 it distributed a study using laboratory testing and X-ray analysis that found the ADE651 ineffective.
The New York Times reported in November that the Iraqi government purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, at a cost of between US$16,500 and US$60,000 each.
But Iraq's government defended the device.
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told state-run Iraqiya TV on Friday that the instruments "managed to prevent and detect more than 16,000 bombs that would be a threat to people's life and more than 733 car bombs were defused."
However, Iraqi civilians who lost relatives in recent bombings in Baghdad are furious and want to know why the Iraqi government still relies of the devices for security checkpoints.
The ADE651 device made by the British company ATSC is used at security checkpoints across Baghdad, and its makers claim it can detect explosives at a distance.
But Britain's Department for Business Innovation and Skills halted the export of the ADE651 after a BBC TV "Newsnight" investigation aired on Friday challenged its effectiveness. The broadcaster took the key aspects of the device to a laboratory, which concluded that a component intended to detect explosives contained technology used to prevent thefts in stores.
"Tests have shown that the technology used in the ADE651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection," the department said in a statement.
A British news agency reported that police have arrested the company's director on suspicion of fraud.
The findings on the ADE651 back up the US military, which has had concerns about the device for months. The military does not use it, and in June 2009 it distributed a study using laboratory testing and X-ray analysis that found the ADE651 ineffective.
The New York Times reported in November that the Iraqi government purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, at a cost of between US$16,500 and US$60,000 each.
But Iraq's government defended the device.
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told state-run Iraqiya TV on Friday that the instruments "managed to prevent and detect more than 16,000 bombs that would be a threat to people's life and more than 733 car bombs were defused."
However, Iraqi civilians who lost relatives in recent bombings in Baghdad are furious and want to know why the Iraqi government still relies of the devices for security checkpoints.
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