Suspects Were Building Smoke Detector Dirty Bomb

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

UK Terror Suspects Were Building Dirty Bomb - Time



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British terror suspects arrested in August were 

trying to construct a dirty bomb and planned to attack targets in London, 

including the Heathrow Express airport rail line, Time magazine reported.



Senior U.S. law-enforcement officials told Time that according to reports 

now circulating, the arrests turned up a cache of household smoke detectors 

that the British suspect the group wanted to cannibalize for their minute 

quantities of americium-241, a man-made radioactive chemical.



While some officials said it was extremely unlikely enough americium could 

be harvested from smoke detectors to create a device strong enough to kill 

people or create radiation sickness, others argued that releasing even a 

small amount of radioactive material into a crowded stadium or subway 

station could trigger sensitive radiation sensors, incite panic and cause 

long-lasting contamination.



Information from computer files seized with the group revealed plans for 

specific attacks in London including "blowing up high-rise buildings housing 

multinational companies" by driving bomb-laden cars into underground 

garages, Time said in a release on Sunday of material from its latest 

edition.



Other targets included the Heathrow Express, a rail line between the airport 

and London, and an unspecified synagogue. There were also plans for 

"hijacking a gasoline tanker and smashing it into a building."



[Other plans included flying airplanes into reactor continment domes, but 

that was ruled out in favor of dropping dimes from the top of the Empire 

State Building onto unsuspecting pedestrians. - JH]



Time described the group as suspected Islamic terrorists and said cell 

leader Dhiren Barot -- otherwise known as Issa al-Hindi -- traveled to New 

York City in early 2001, according to the Sept. 11 Commission report, "to 

case potential economic and 'Jewish' targets."



Among the evidence found with the suspects were reconnaissance reports on 

major U.S. financial sites including the New York Stock Exchange (news - web 

sites) and the World Bank (news - web sites) in Washington.



U.S. officials hope to learn from the continuing investigation whether a 

sleeper cell remained in the United States to carry out these missions, Time 

reported.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=9&u=/nm/security_britain_report_dc



[What a bunch of looney terrorists.  I wish they were all like that.  Sure, 

they'd scare the heck out of a lot of people, but beyond the initial blast 

from the explosives, there would be little or no harm.  I'd better start 

stocking up on smoke detectors and camping lantern mantels before they 

become controlled substances. - JH]



--

I've got a closet full of gas masks, Geiger counters, KI tablets, organic 

veggies, and tinfoil hats.



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