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BY TIMES ONLINE AND PA NEWS
A police officer during a mock 'dirty bomb' explosion exercise last September in Central London
Police have foiled a terror attack in Britain that would have used the deadly chemical osmium tetroxide.
The compound, which can be bought on the internet, causes fatal choking in victims. It also attacks the cornea and can lead to blindness.
It could have been used by terrorists to target the Tube in London, Gatwick airport or a busy shopping centre.
Police and security services in the UK were alerted after mention of the chemical was picked up at the GCHQ electronic listening centre. They moved to stop any possibility of it being used.
Stewart Tendler, Times Crime Correspondent, confirmed that a plot was foiled.
He said: "We understand that a plot was being hatched using this chemical to possibly create some kind of dirty bomb using ammonium nitrate mixed with osmium tetroxide.
"The device would have killed and injured people, and released this extremely noxious chemical among rescue workers and other people in the area.
"We were told last week by the police that they did not think airports were a target. A device like this could weigh up to half a tonne and would be too big to take into a terminal or detonate underground on the Tube.
"However, it could be parked outside a terminal, a railway station or a shopping centre. When you are talking of a bomb this size, it has to be taken in a truck or a lorry somewhere. Or the chemical would have been used in some other form of attack"
Osmium tetroxide has a pungent smell and comes from the Greek word for "stench". It is used in research laboratories as a staining agent in electron microscopy.
Despite being considered extremely hazardous, small amounts can be obtained through the internet for about £100.
Experts say it could be "piggy-backed" on to a conventional bomb which would see the invisible chemical dispersed into a crowd of people.
Victims would suffer asthma-like symptoms known as "dryland drowning". Police in Britain have not said that they have found any osmium tetroxide.
And while al-Qaeda has included plans for chemical attacks in training manuals, it has so far used conventional devices.
A 17-year-old arrested during a series of anti-terror raids was charged today with conspiracy to cause explosions. The teenager, was arrested last week in the London area with eight other men, who remain in custody.
Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd
April 7, 2004 at 11:31 PM in Current Terrorism | Permalink | TrackBack (27) | Top of page | Blog Home