-Caveat Lector- From The Age (URL @ bottom)
}}}>Begin Czechs under pressure over stolen Semtex Kate Connolly February 24 2002 NATO chiefs and United States army experts are putting pressure on the Czech Republic to increase security at army depots, amid fears that international terrorists are regularly obtaining large stocks of stolen Semtex. In the past few months there have been several attempts to smuggle the Czech- made plastic explosive out of the country. Although some thefts have been foiled, security experts fear that large quantities of Semtex - a favourite with terrorists because it is versatile and hard to detect - have recently fallen into the hands of organised crime. Military stocks across the country are vulnerable to sabotage, due to lax security, according to a Czech intelligence report, recently leaked to the press. According to the source, Czech soldiers, who are poorly paid, have been selling large quantities to middlemen in the pay of terrorist organisations. "It is being stolen during training, pyrotechnical work or directly from the depots," the source said. Two army officers were recently caught trying to smuggle 42.5 kilograms of Semtex out of a military depot in Prostejov. In the beer town of Pilsen, a Belgian man reportedly paid a soldier $US500 ($A975) for one kilogram. Another soldier, who was serving in Croatia, was discovered trying to transport 35 kilograms into Yugoslavia in the petrol tank of his car. These recent incidents come on top of a whole series of others throughout the 1990s, including the purchase in July, 1999, of an unspecified amount of Semtex in Pilsen by members of the Irish terror group, the INLA, according to German intelligence sources. advertisement advertisement The explosive's market price is about $US5.60 per kilogram, but this is restricted to licensed buyers, such as mining companies. On the black market abroad, it sells for as much as $US1300 per kilogram; it costs up to $US140 on the domestic black market. At present there are estimated to be about 60tonnes of unmarked Semtex in Czech army depots, which are almost undetectable by dogs or equipment. Just 250 grams is enough to blow up an aeroplane. After pressure from NATO leaders, which the Czech Republic joined three years ago, the government last month renationalised Explosia, the factory which has produced Semtex since its invention more than three decades ago. A government spokeswoman said that after the September 11 attacks, it was one of "a number of adopted security measures that are expected to prevent further terrorist attacks in the world". But the gesture, experts say, is an empty one if the defence ministry does not have tight control of existing military supplies. - Guardian This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/ 02/23/1014389606551.html End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. 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