Terrorists planning to blow up planes with bombs INSIDE their bodies, authorities warn
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011851/Terrorists-planning-blow-planes-bombs-INSIDE-bodies-U-S-authorities-warn.html#ixzz1RQP4hJoi
By PAUL BENTLEY
Last updated at 10:57 AM on 7th July 2011
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Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines, trains, buses and shopping centres by hiding bombs in bags, shoes or underwear to avoid detection.
But in a bid to foil airport scanners, the militants may have taken the most drastic measures, cutting themselves open and planting bombs within their bodies, leaked U.S. intelligence suggests.
Scanners: Security at airports around the world will have to be beefed up to detect explosives hidden within terrorists' bodies
Authorities have already been on high alert since the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May, ramping up security at airports, government buildings and other facilities in case of a retaliatory strike.
And security will now be boosted further at airports after Homeland Security officials warned air carriers and other world leaders about the possibility of the ‘body bomber’ attacks on commercial flights.
Security services believe the move by terrorists to surgically implant explosives was prompted by the introduction at airports of body scanners, designed to catch them before they board flights.
It is thought male bombers would have the explosive secreted near their appendix or in their buttocks, while females would have the material placed inside their breasts, in the same way implants are inserted.
Threat: X-ray scanners will need to be used to catch the terrorists
Experts said bombers would be surgically cut open, the explosive PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate) would then be placed in a plastic sachet inside his or her body before the wound was stitched up like a normal operation incision and treated to heal.
A shaped charge of 8oz of PETN can penetrate five inches of armour and would easily blow a large hole in an airliner.
The explosives would be detonated by the bomber using a hypodermic syringe to inject TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) through their skin into the explosives sachet – a method which has created a serious fear that the body-bombers could pretend to be diabetics injecting themselves in order to prevent anyone stopping their suicide missions.
PETN: The explosive used by Richard Reid, the British Al Qaeda shoe-bomber
PETN – the main ingredient of Semtex plastic explosive – was used by Richard Reid, the British Al Qaeda shoe-bomber, when he unsuccessfully tried to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami in December 2001.
The leaked U.S. advisory to foreign counterparts states: 'The Department of Homeland Security has identified a potential threat from terrorists who may be considering surgically implanting explosives or explosive components in humans to conduct terrorist attacks.'
The threat is likely to come from overseas but precautionary steps are being taken in the U.S. as well as internationally, a security official added.
The threat of 'body bombers' was first revealed last year by an MI5 operation in England after an investigation into Al Qaeda tactics on internet message boards.
The memo sent by the Department of Homeland Security, however, reveals world leaders are now taking the threat so seriously security tactics at airports may have to be adapted.
The method would be difficult to detect but body scanners do exist which are designed to identify chemicals, explosives and drugs at airports and other passenger terminals around the world.
These include high-specification X-ray equipment that could identify body bombs.
The official who leaked the Homeland Security advisory, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while the threat had been identified, there was no indication a strike was imminent.
'As a precaution, passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place,' Nicholas Kimball, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration added.
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UK News:Pensioner built electric chair to murder wife
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dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011810/Husband-built-electric-chair-kill-wife-asked-divorce.html#ixzz1RQLpZjpT
Pensioner built electric chair in garage to murder his wife after she asked him for divorce
Andrew Castle pleaded guilty to attempted murder after trying to kill his wife of 18 years
- He rigged a metal chair up to the mains then invited Margaret in 'for a chat'
By JAMES TOZER
Last updated at 12:15 PM on 7th July 2011
Andrew Castle set up the home-made electric chair after his wife Margaret asked to end their 18-year marriage
A husband built a makeshift electric chair in his garage and tried to kill his wife after she asked for a divorce.
Andrew Castle, 61, ran a cable from a plug to a metal-framed armchair, then asked his wife Margaret in ‘for a chat’, a court heard.
Once she was sitting down, he tried to knock her out with a rubber cosh, planning to electrocute her with the live wires.
But she managed to wriggle free before 230 volts of mains electricity could pulse through her body, running out screaming.
Castle was arrested after trying to electrocute himself with his own device then attempting to slash his wrists, and yesterday was beginning a ten-year prison sentence after admitting attempted murder.
The macabre execution bid caused amazement among neighbours in the Lancashire town of Knott End-on-Sea, near Fleetwood.
Castle, a former shop worker, and his 61-year-old wife, who used to be a clerk, married 18 years ago in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, before retiring to their £110,000 bungalow on the coast.
Outdoor struggle: The couple fought outside their home in Knott End On Sea, Lancs, after Margaret had escaped from the garage
Neighbours believed the couple, who went on regular walking and cruising holidays together, were happy and content.
But Mrs Castle found her husband ‘domineering and controlling’, and she asked him for a divorce last autumn. From that time they were said to have lived separate lives under the same roof.
Castle moved the armchair into the garage before secretly rigging up the length of cable.
On March 5 he told his wife he wanted a chat about her desire for a divorce, and got her to sit down.
He told her he was going to kill her and grabbed a 12-inch rubber cosh, apparently chosen to insulate him from the deadly current.
But as he rained blows at her head she grabbed a stepladder, warding him off for long enough to escape through a side door as he continued to swing the cosh.
Castle then tried to electrocute himself with his own contraption before slashing his wrists with a kitchen knife.
Police called by a neighbour found him bleeding in the back garden crying: ‘What have I done, what have I done?’
Mrs Castle was treated in hospital for minor head injuries.
Officers who examined the garage found a length of cable running from a 13-amp plug to a lamp which was attached to a further cable with one end exposed.
When switched on at the plug, the live and neutral wires, if touched to Mrs Castle’s skin or to the chair, would have given her a potentially deadly shock.
Castle immediately admitted what he had planned to detectives, describing himself as ‘a nutter’. At Preston Crown Court he admitted attempted murder and was jailed for ten years.
The court heard he had planned to kill himself after murdering his wife.
Castle later claimed he had been ‘simply unable to cope’ with the divorce and found it ‘overwhelming’.
A psychiatric report concluded he had obsessive compulsive disorder and an adjustment disorder.
Judge Anthony Russell QC said: ‘This was undoubtedly a planned attempt to kill, followed by a sustained and brutal attack.
‘There can be no doubt it was a very frightening experience for your wife, but the physical injuries you inflicted were mercifully slight. However, the psychological effects must have been considerable.’
Neighbours were astonished by the attack. ‘Margaret is a lovely person and everyone is very distressed that this happened,’ one said yesterday.
‘We always thought they were a lovely couple.
‘Margaret was understandably in a terrible state after what happened to her and she moved out of the house.
‘It’s incredible to think this man could have gone to such lengths to get even because of a divorce.’
Last night Mrs Castle, who is staying with relatives, said the trauma of the attack would always be with her.
In a statement she said: ‘I finally decided that because of Andrew Castle’s domineering and controlling behaviour, which got worse over our 18 years of marriage, I would seek a divorce.
‘As a direct consequence of that decision he attempted to murder me. It is by sheer good fortune that I am here today and the events of that Saturday evening will always be with me.’
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