Fake bomb detectors in attacked Karachi Airport used by Thai Army

[webfact]

Fake Bomb Detectors in Attacked Pakistani Airport Used By Thai Army
By Khaosod English


Soldiers in Pathani province display the GT200 in 2010.

BANGKOK – The Royal Thai Army has a history of using the same counterfeit bomb detectors that were reportedly used by security forces at the Pakistani airport attacked by armed militants on Sunday.

Ten Taliban commandos, armed with suicide vests, grenades, and automatic weapons, made it past checkpoints at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport late Sunday night and waged an extended battle against security forces that left at least 28 people dead.

According to The Guardian, the security officers who guarded the outer perimeter of the airport used versions of the fake bomb-detecting device sold by a British businessman to Thailand several years ago.

James McCormick and his company sold thousands of the phony detectors at extortionate prices to countries such as Iraq, Pakistan, and Thailand.

Mr. McCormick, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years in jail, claimed the devices could detect a wide range of substances, such as explosives or narcotics, by analysing molecular components from a distance. Mr. McCormick's company told customers that the long dials attached to the detectors would swing and point to any suspicious materials.

In reality, the devices were completely ineffectual and based on $20 golf-ball finders that Mr. McCormick had purchased in the United States.

For several years, Thai soldiers used a version of Mr. McCormick's phoney bomb detectors, called GT200, in the southern border provinces where separatist unrest has claimed more than 6,000 lives since the latest wave of violence broke out in 2002.

According to media reports, the Thai army started buying the detectors in 2008. Similar versions of the detectors, called ALPHA, were also purchased and distributed to the Royal Thai Police for drug searches.

It is estimated that the GT200s cost Thai taxpayers more than 630 million baht and led Thai security forces to arrest innocent individuals, while letting a number of people with real bombs pass through checkpoints undetected.

Following the news of massive bomb attacks in Baghdad in late 2009, where security forces employed devices similar to the GT200 to search for car bombs, skeptics in Thailand started to question the validity of the detectors.

Jessada Denduangboripant, a scientist at Chulalongkorn University, spearheaded a movement on social media that called for a scientific test of the GT200 devices. After initial resistance, the Thai authorities conceded and conducted the test in early 2010. The result established the GT200's accuracy to be as good as random chance.

Then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva eventually ordered the suspension of GT200 devices across the country. However, top army leaders and security officials continued to defend the devices long after the test.

Among them was Central Institute of Forensic Science director, Pornthip Rojanasunand, who told the press that the scientific test that debunked the GT200 did not matter because the devices "were not scientific tools" in the first place.

“GT200 is not scientific either, it depends on the operators. The officials of the CIFS have used it with great efficiency,” Ms. Pornthip was quoted as saying in February 2010.

Ms. Pornthip, a vocal supporter of the protests against the previous government, is reportedly being considered for the job of Minister of Justice in the future army-appointed interim government. Ms. Pornthip recently told the press she is willing to accept the job, if offered.

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, army chief and leader of the National Council for Peace and Order, also defended the GT200 as late as 2013.

“So far the army has used it and it works. Maybe it’s confidence,” Gen. Prayuth told Thai media in July 2012.

In an interview to the press in 2013, Gen. Prayuth asked the public to stop criticizing the devices, and admitted that some security officers still used GT200 in their field operation "because there is no alternative."

No official has ever been held accountable in court for purchases of GT200 bomb detectors.

Source: http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1402391782&typecate=06&section=


-- Khaosod English 2014-06-11

[JRSoul]

"Ten Taliban commandos, armed with suicide vests, grenades, and automatic weapons, made it past checkpoints.........."

Notice the lie that this whole story is based upon? Just an excuse to have a dig at Prayuth.

[Robby nz]

Seems strange that so many countries were fooled by these things.

There were Demo's given in which they appeared to work and many countries bought and used them on the basis of what was first shown.

Could it be that the ones that were demonstrated and distributed for testing did in fact work.

But those that were manufactured and sold were only cheap things that looked the same ?

Those who still kept using them would not have wanted to admit they had been conned, and that doesn't just apply to Thailand.

Whatever, their use has without a doubt cost many lives and as we see in the OP is still letting the baddies get through.

Maybe 10 years wasn't enough for McCormick.

[Roadman]

"Ten Taliban commandos, armed with suicide vests, grenades, and automatic weapons, made it past checkpoints.........."

Notice the lie that this whole story is based upon? Just an excuse to have a dig at Prayuth.

It certainly has been a long stretch of the bow to get the contection to have a go at about the only thing that they have. But its from Khaosod so one can not expect much else.

Edited to add as much as they have stretched to get General Prayuth and Khun Pornthip into the corner of the bad people coup administration, their own one eyed reporting inaccuracy that they conveniently allowed to be slipped past with 'according to media reports' is that also according to other media reports these fakes were first purchased in 2004 during the reign of their hero Saint Thaksin.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Roadman

[JRSoul]

Seems strange that so many countries were fooled by these things.

There were Demo's given in which they appeared to work and many countries bought and used them on the basis of what was first shown.

Could it be that the ones that were demonstrated and distributed for testing did in fact work.

But those that were manufactured and sold were only cheap things that looked the same ?

Those who still kept using them would not have wanted to admit they had been conned, and that doesn't just apply to Thailand.

Whatever, their use has without a doubt cost many lives and as we see in the OP is still letting the baddies get through.

Maybe 10 years wasn't enough for McCormick.

Oh gosh - the Taliban fighters didn't line up with their assault rifles and grenade launchers to be tested.

Edited June 10, 2014 by JRSoul

[NongKhaiKid]

Face, suspect purchasing procedures and any corruption would preclude anyone in Thailand admitting they had bought useless equipment and to hang with the consequences.

[Neurath]

There have been no prosecutions in Thailand over this issue. Let's hope that the NCPO can bring the culprits to justice and quickly. Of course, the statement that scientific testing of these instrutments is beside the point because their proper functoning "depends on the user" begs the question as to quite why THB 700 mil had to be spent on them in the first place - after all, if it just depends on the user, a forked stick would do just as well. Now the procurement contracts most cerainly will not state that the units will only work if the user believes in them. So there's presumably a problem, and a legal one, right there. It's a sad thing to see someone doing such violence to their reason in defending the undefendable.

[clockman]

It is called the long con! and you cannot con an honest man.

Edited June 11, 2014 by clockman

[ezzra]

The fake GT200 could only detect one thing, fake bombs...

[Emptyset]

"Ten Taliban commandos, armed with suicide vests, grenades, and automatic weapons, made it past checkpoints.........."

Notice the lie that this whole story is based upon? Just an excuse to have a dig at Prayuth.

It certainly has been a long stretch of the bow to get the contection to have a go at about the only thing that they have. But its from Khaosod so one can not expect much else.

Edited to add as much as they have stretched to get General Prayuth and Khun Pornthip into the corner of the bad people coup administration, their own one eyed reporting inaccuracy that they conveniently allowed to be slipped past with 'according to media reports' is that also according to other media reports these fakes were first purchased in 2004 during the reign of their hero Saint Thaksin.

Yes, but first purchased by the army in 2006 according to the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200 It also give a higher figure than Khao Sod of 800 - 900 million baht. Here's The Nation article which is the source for that:

"The Army began buying them when General Sonthi Boonyaratglin was its chief. A big lot was ordered last year... Thailand has spent between Bt700 million and Bt800 million to acquire some 1,000 dowsing devices in recent years, Abhisit said."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/02/17/politics/Bt800-million-embarrassment-30122779.html

[rabas]

The fake GT200 could only detect one thing, fake bombs...

But only in the hands of a fake expert...

[zig]

Seems strange that so many countries were fooled by these things.

There were Demo's given in which they appeared to work and many countries bought and used them on the basis of what was first shown.

Could it be that the ones that were demonstrated and distributed for testing did in fact work.

I recall that it was written that during the demos only the company representatives were handling the devices and arranging the scene, and they probably knew exactly where the different substances were hidden. As follows, it indeed all 'depends on the operators'