'Bomb detector' maker Jim McCormick arrested

[Flashermac]

The director of a company which sold a bomb-detecting device to 20 countries, including Iraq, has been arrested.

 

ATSC's Jim McCormick, 53, was detained on Friday on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation, Avon and Somerset police said. He has since been bailed.

 

It comes after a BBC investigation alleged the ADE-651 did not work.

 

Earlier, the British government announced a ban on the export of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan, where British forces are serving.

 

Mr McCormick has said the device, sold from offices in Sparkford, Somerset, used special electronic cards slotted into it to detect explosives.

 

But a BBC Newsnight investigation reported that a computer laboratory said the card it examined contained only a tag used by shops to prevent theft.

 

There are concerns the detectors have failed to stop bomb attacks which have killed hundreds of people.

 

The device consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip. It does not operate by battery, instead promotional material says it is powered only by the user's static electricity.

 

The ADE-651 has been sold to a range of Middle Eastern countries and as far afield as Bangkok.

 

The Iraqi government has spent US$85m (£52m) on the hand-held detectors, now used at most checkpoints in Baghdad.

 

It is understood Iraq paid about US$40,000 for each device. No Western government uses them.

 

The BBC has learned the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered an investigation into the bomb detectors, expected to report shortly.

 

The government ban, brought in by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, starts next week.

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8476381.stm

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

Nice guy.

 

What was he thinking, trojan horse?

[Khun_Kong]

They have bought DOZENS of these in Thailand. I think they go for up to 20,000 USD! There was an article somewhere a month or so ago. It is essentially an electronic divining rod, powered by snake oil.

[cavanami]

There was an article in the BKK Post or Nations about these being used in the south of LOS and NOT working!

[shygye]

Pretty much shows the dismal level of science education most people get!

[Khun_Kong]

There was an article in the BKK Post or Nations about these being used in the south of LOS and NOT working!

 

If I recall correctly, some general demonstrated it for a reporter by holding a hand grenade and showing how the device pointed to it when operated by a soldier. The reporter tried it, but it wouldn't work for him. The general explained that the reporter was not trained properly (i.e., trained to move it in the direction of the general holding the hand grenade or face court martial).

 

Think the general was making any profit on these things?

 

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

23 Jan 2010

 

UK bans "bomb detectors"

 

 

London: UK police arrested a businessman who sold bomb detecting equipment to Iraq on suspicion of fraud, as ministers banned the export of the devices amid concerns they do not work.

 

The device is virtually identical to the GT200 bomb-detector used in the South. The GT200 has caused several deaths, but every time it failed to detect explosives, the operators have been blamed.

 

[color:red]The GT200, which reportedly has cost the Thai army and taxpayer 200,000 baht per unit[/color], has been described by sceptics as a "divining rod". There is no scientific explanation for why the GT200 should find explosives.

 

The director of British-based company ATSC, Jim McCormick, 53, was arrested on suspicion of fraud by misrepresentation and bailed pending further investigation, police said.

 

At the same time, the government announced it will ban the export of the ADE651, an ATSC product marketed as a bomb detector and reportedly bought in large numbers by the Iraqi military to use at security checkpoints.

 

"Tests have shown that the technology used in the ADE651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection," the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said in a statement.

 

"As soon as it was brought to the attention of the Export Control Organisation and (business secretary) Lord Peter Mandelson we acted urgently to put in place export restrictions which will come into force next week," it added.

 

The findings on the ADE651 back up the U.S. 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 examination resulted in a determination that there was no possible means by which the ADE651 could detect explosives and therefore was determined to be totally ineffective and fraudulent," Maj. Joe Scrocca, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

 

As a result of that study, the US military notified all military and civilian personnel in Iraq that the bomb detection device is "ineffective and should not be relied upon as a means of insuring the safety of any personnel," Scrocca said.

 

The New York Times reported in November that the Iraqi government purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, at a cost of between $16,500 and $60,000 each.

 

While ATSC did not need an export licence because the ADE651 is not officially military technology, the department said "it is clearly of concern that it is being used as bomb detection equipment."

 

The ban will be limited to Iraq and Afghanistan, the department said, because "our legal power to control these goods is based on the risk that they could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces."

 

It added: "The British Embassy Baghdad has raised our concerns about the ADE651 with the Iraqi authorities.

 

"We have offered co-operation with any investigation theymay wish to make into the how the device came to be bought for their military as bomb detection equipment."