A pen-like device as a sensitive explosives detector
Researchers develop a pen-size explosive detector; the sensitive detector can detect TATP, a peroxide bomb detonator used in many major terror attacks worldwide; the device is a disposable item that can be used by non-experts, like U.S. troops in the field, customs police, regular police, and even environmentalists
A new weapon in the arsenal shared by airport security personnel and police resembles a pen but can detect bomb detonators in powder form at as little as five micrograms. The ACRO-P.E.T resembles a pen and can detect TATP, a peroxide bomb detonator used in many major terror attacks worldwide.
TATP is a white crystalline powder with a distinctive acrid odor. It is a peroxide bomb detonator and an explosive of choice for airport bombers. If it had been detected at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the underwear bomber en route to Detroit several months ago would have been foiled much sooner.
Would-be bombers have managed to smuggle TATP on board before. In 2001 Richard Reid of al Qaeda targeted American Airlines Flight 63 with a TATP trigger for a bomb concealed in his shoe. Israel21c’s Karin Kloosterman writes that underwear and shoe bombers will from now on have to be even more crafty: A technology developed by Israelis and Americans is now going to expose them.
Collaboration between an American researcher and Professor Ehud Keinan of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology has culminated in a new way to foil terrorists carrying TATP-based explosives. Resembling a pen, the device is a new weapon in the arsenal shared by airport security personnel, police, and environmentalists. Keinan and Professor Philip Dawson from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, recently developed and commercialized the ACRO-P.E.T.(Peroxide Explosives Tester) — a simple and cost-effective device for detecting TATP.
Operated by touch, the sensitivity of the device is quite high, as it can identify as little as five micrograms of TATP, an amount that can not be seen by the human eye. An operator touches the tip of the device to the surface of the suspicious material. The tip is then removed and the operator replaces it on the “pen” and presses three levers, each of which releases 300 micro liters of solution. A color change indicates the presence of TATP.
“It’s a next generation tool,” Keinan told Israel21c, “most airports are not equipped with any devices [like this].”
Identifying terrorists before it is too late
At a cost of about $25 per unit, the explosives tester is being sold through Acro Security Technologies. Founded and based in Israel, Acro Security sells the ACRO-P.E.T. and other products to identify terrorists.
The pen-like device is a disposable item that can be used by non-experts, like U.S. troops in
