Thai army spends over 7 million baht to test useless GT200 bomb scanners

[webfact]

 

The opposition Move Forward party is demanding an explanation from the army over its spending of more than seven million baht to hire the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) to test 700 GT200 bomb scanners, purchased by the army over a decade ago, to determine whether they work.

 

Party list MP Rangsiman Rome said today (Saturday) that he does not understand why the army has to test the fake scanners, which have already been proved completely useless.

 

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“Anyone can test the scanner with just a screwdriver, without the need to pay 10,000 baht a piece” said Rangsiman.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-army-spends-over-7-million-baht-to-test-useless-gt200-bomb-scanners/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-06-06

 

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[ukrules]

Find the company which is 'testing the devices' and then follow the trail of relatives and money back to the person who authorised the 'expensive' tests and you will have your answer.....

[Baron Samedi]

"Move Forward". Interesting name.

Reminds me of "En Marche" in France.

Wondering if the same kind of technocrat leads that Thai party ????

 

 

[Gsxrnz]

Who remembers the previous bomb scanner debacle?  They were actually golf ball locaters, and cost billions.

 

Deja Vu.  Or is it simply Back to the Future - Part II ?

 

 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Gsxrnz

[OneMoreFarang]

I don't remember the details. But as far as I know those devices were sold to Thailand from a so called reputable company from another country with the support of the government from that country.

I understand that everybody laughs about these things, but there should also be the question how it was possible that they were internationally promoted by a foreign government many years ago.

[sammieuk1]

Here's the last one UK Businessman Convicted For Selling Fake Bomb Detectors  ????

 

[worgeordie]

Test what , there was nothing inside then , 

regards worgeordie

[ChrisY1]

4 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Test what , there was nothing inside then , 

regards worgeordie

Well actually.....while these things are all but empty.....someone in the RTA has decided to make a bit of cash re-testing the fake units....so they do have Thb 10K in them:)

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Party list MP Rangsiman Rome said today (Saturday) that he does not understand why the army has to test the fake scanners, which have already been proved completely useless

I have an idea but the deformation law makes it difficult to share.

[mikebell]

29 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

I have an idea but the deformation law makes it difficult to share.

Was the 'deformation' word deliberate or a Freudian slip?

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Gsxrnz said:

Who remembers the previous bomb scanner debacle?  They were actually golf ball locaters, and cost billions.

 

Deja Vu.  Or is it simply Back to the Future - Part II ?

 

 

These are the same scanners, they have dusted them off and tried again to see if they actually work as a detection unit....farce and money in some ones pocket and a day spent laughing and having a free lunch by the testing company....

[jacko45k]

Sounds like a better scam than that of the fake scanners!

[Hamus Yaigh]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I don't remember the details.

Just look up GT200 on Wikipedia. Everything is explained clearly there for those who cannot remember. It doesn't shed light well on those even in power today.

[Will B Good]

Next up will be a contract to test the equipment that was used to test the fake bomb detectors.........Thailand to a T.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

Next up will be a contract to test the equipment that was used to test the fake bomb detectors.........Thailand to a T.

Six guys have been blown up  already .......

[Will B Good]

I'd love to see the guy who sold these, along with the top brass who bought them, given a detector each and then have them dropped into the middle of a minefield.............off you go.

[Ombra]

These comments confuse two separate acts of fraud. The video is about the British fraudster, James McCormick, and his ADE651 'detector,' and the news story is about the more successful American fraudster, James Bolton, and his GT200 'device.'

[rwill]

Perhaps they should test if holding one in each hand allows them to be used as divining rods.

[khunPer]

To my knowledge the device was originally launched as a golf ball scanner, in theory not much different from using a pair of wire hangers to find water and various underground grids like Hartmann Gitter. Cutting wire hangers would be cheaper and probably equal efficient, perhaps even more efficient if the person using the wire hangers has extraordinary abilities; it's actually quite fun to try it, you might be surprised over your abilities...????????

 

 

 

 

The Guardian for example wrote...

Ten of the 12 water companies in the UK have admitted they are still using the practice of water dowsing despite the lack of scientific evidence for its effectiveness.

 

The disclosure has prompted calls for the regulator to stop companies passing the cost of a discredited medieval practice on to their customers. Ofwat said any firm failing to meet its commitments to customers faced a financial penalty.

 

Dowsers, or water witchers, claim that their divining rods cross over when the presence of water is detected below ground. It is regarded as a pseudoscience, after numerous studies showed it was no better than chance at finding water.

 

Some water companies, however, insisted the practice could be as effective as modern methods.

 

Link to full article HERE.

 

 

 

[Hamus Yaigh]

22 minutes ago, khunPer said:

To my knowledge the device was originally launched as a golf ball scanner

Absolutely no mention of golf ball finders here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

[doctormann]

How about using them as Monkey Pox detectors?

 

Maybe could spend another 7 million Baht to see if they work for that!

[Silencer]

3 hours ago, Ombra said:

These comments confuse two separate acts of fraud. The video is about the British fraudster, James McCormick, and his ADE651 'detector,' and the news story is about the more successful American fraudster, James Bolton, and his GT200 'device.'

You may be confused as a GARY Bolten a British citizen, was convicted in 2013 over the GT200 fraud. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-23768203

 

 

[khunPer]

3 minutes ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

Absolutely no mention of golf ball finders here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

Indeed it is a golf ball detector, before it was re-launched as bomb-detector...

 

This confusion may be explained by the similarity of the two devices, as they have a common ancestor in the Quadro Tracker aka Gopher Golf Ball Finder. But they were manufactured by different companies and sold to different countries. The main market for the ADE651 was Iraq, and for the GT200 it was Mexico and Thailand.

I'm not allowed to link to source in this forum, but you can find it under the title "The GT200 on trial" in the Google-search HERE, which also unveils numerous other articles about the gold ball detector's new life as bomb detector...????

 

[Phoenix Rising]

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I don't remember the details. But as far as I know those devices were sold to Thailand from a so called reputable company from another country with the support of the government from that country.

I understand that everybody laughs about these things, but there should also be the question how it was possible that they were internationally promoted by a foreign government many years ago.

Why?? The OP is about the fact that the Thai army is continuing to throw good money after bad and we can all guess what the reason could be.

And this despite the fact that the benevolent cou Gen PM graciously took power away from the elected leaders on a promise to rid the country of corruption and cronyism.

If one was extremely cynical one could perhaps (after 7 years when very little has changed) start wondering if he wasn't entirely truthful back in 2015....

[Srikcir]

9 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

"Move Forward". Interesting name.

Reminds me of "En Marche" in France.

Wondering if the same kind of technocrat leads that Thai party ????

 

 

See Google.

It's a social democratic and progressive political party that was called Phung Luang Party before the 2019 Thai General Election.

In 2020 it changed its name to Move Forward after the Charter Court dissolved a similar ideological party called Future Forward Party after it gained significant support in the 2019 election. FFP's leader was also banned politics. So likely MFP has new leadership but many of foemer FFP members.

 

Note that En Marche changed its name to Renaissance prior to the 2022 French election.

Politics is all about branding.

[Srikcir]

10 hours ago, Baron Samedi said:

"Move Forward". Interesting name.

Reminds me of "En Marche" in France.

Wondering if the same kind of technocrat leads that Thai party ????

 

 

See Google.

It's a social democratic and progressive political party that was called Phung Luang Party before the 2019 Thai General Election.

In 2020 it changed its name to Move Forward after the Charter Court dissolved a similar ideological party called Future Forward Party after it gained significant support in the 2019 election. FFP's leader was also banned politics. So likely MFP has new leadership but many of foemer FFP members.

 

Note that En Marche changed its name to Renaissance prior to the 2022 French election.

Politics is all about branding.

[Srikcir]

As I recall the military justified continued use of the "detector" as it was 'better than nothing.' I think the theory was that the soldier had a 50/50 chance of detecting a bomb.!?!

Hey conscript, I have a job for you.