If drug mules swallow drugs and fly, can't terrorists swallow explosive devices?
May 8, 10, 4:12 pm
#31
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: SSSSS
Posts: 867
Originally Posted by TSORon
Did no one read the link I provided? 
Listen folks, a bomb is far more than a package of explosives.
Basic components of a bomb:
Explosive
Initiator (blasting cap/detonator)
Power source
Switch (optional in some cases)
Explosive: Most explosives are toxic. Eat them and they kill you.
Initiator: An initiator is filled with what? Explosive. And they are not tiny. Nor would they be easy to swallow. Some have a fuse, and lighting an initiators fuse while in your stomach might pose some serious challenges. Most have wires, which of course require a battery.
Power Source: Ever try to swallow a battery? That is the most common power source for explosives. There are others out there, but trying to get them into one’s stomach presents issues that I don’t think we can cover here.
Switch: Micro switches are possible, but making them immune to stomach acids would be difficult. Most switches are a bit too large to swallow.
These things are the reason that “stomach bombs” are a remote possibility. Very remote.
Listen folks, a bomb is far more than a package of explosives.
Basic components of a bomb:
Explosive
Initiator (blasting cap/detonator)
Power source
Switch (optional in some cases)
Explosive: Most explosives are toxic. Eat them and they kill you.
Initiator: An initiator is filled with what? Explosive. And they are not tiny. Nor would they be easy to swallow. Some have a fuse, and lighting an initiators fuse while in your stomach might pose some serious challenges. Most have wires, which of course require a battery.
Power Source: Ever try to swallow a battery? That is the most common power source for explosives. There are others out there, but trying to get them into one’s stomach presents issues that I don’t think we can cover here.
Switch: Micro switches are possible, but making them immune to stomach acids would be difficult. Most switches are a bit too large to swallow.
These things are the reason that “stomach bombs” are a remote possibility. Very remote.
As for stomach bombs, all that is needed is a simple cardiac implantable defibrillator. Lots of people have them, lots of people fly with them. All done with solid state electronics. Surgically implant something in the belly, leave the wound stapled -- Gee TSO, I just had an operation and I'm flying home to my friend to be taken care of. Do it in a community with a major surgical center, no one bats an eye.
May 8, 10, 5:52 pm
#32
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,195
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
I did. It was a very generic article about IEDs. BFD.
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
If they aren't encased in something that you body cannot digest. Like a condom. I can assure you that the terrorists have heard of condoms.
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
The M100 Micro-Miniature Electric Detonator is very small and doesn't need much power at all. It would be happy to run off a hearing aid battery.
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
Not a problem. Watch batteries the size of a pencil's eraser will work just fine and give enough battery life for a flight.
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
The switch wouldn't come in contact with stomach acids. They also wouldn't be a micro switch as you are thinking of it.
Originally Posted by Combat Medic
They are only remote in your mind.
May 8, 10, 7:02 pm
#33
Join Date: Jul 2006
Programs: United
Posts: 2,710
Originally Posted by TSORon
It was the best I could find on short notice.
Originally Posted by TSORon
That’s assuming that the explosive itself is not caustic. There are many things that will eat through latex.
Originally Posted by TSORon
Care to provide a link to this “device”?
http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2003fuze/strickland.pdf
Originally Posted by TSORon
Too many assumptions here to list. But I can start with your device, assuming it exists, and the assumption that a watch or hearing aid battery is sufficient.
Originally Posted by TSORon
Another set of assumptions that I am not ready to buy.
Originally Posted by TSORon
So, now you’re an explosives expert? And a psychologist? How cool! Where do you practice?
Look Ron, I know this is tough. This is like having to explain to a kid that Santa isn't real. But...it has to be done.
May 8, 10, 7:46 pm
#34
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,051
One thing to remember. When the loaded condoms break inside the mule, he is a very SICK mule. I'd say a flat no to the device, but the explosives could obviously be swallowed. So what? They could come into port on a freighter. There are a million ways. To me, the point is assembling the bomb ON BOARD the plane. Once you get the explosive inside the mule, what's the method to get it out to join the detonator? Castor oil? 3 oz of castor oil?
I'm betting anything this crossed the minds of the terrorists a decade or more ago. If it hasn't been used, it is because it poses problems they can't solve.
I'm betting anything this crossed the minds of the terrorists a decade or more ago. If it hasn't been used, it is because it poses problems they can't solve.
May 8, 10, 7:59 pm
#35
Join Date: Jul 2006
Programs: United
Posts: 2,710
Originally Posted by LuvAirFrance
One thing to remember. When the loaded condoms break inside the mule, he is a very SICK mule. I'd say a flat no to the device, but the explosives could obviously be swallowed. So what? They could come into port on a freighter. There are a million ways. To me, the point is assembling the bomb ON BOARD the plane. Once you get the explosive inside the mule, what's the method to get it out to join the detonator? Castor oil? 3 oz of castor oil?
I'm betting anything this crossed the minds of the terrorists a decade or more ago. If it hasn't been used, it is because it poses problems they can't solve.
I'm betting anything this crossed the minds of the terrorists a decade or more ago. If it hasn't been used, it is because it poses problems they can't solve.
The bomb could be assembled before it is introduced to the carrier's body. The bomb would detonate while still inside of the carrier.
May 8, 10, 8:40 pm
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,458
Originally Posted by Doc Savage
Plastic explosive breast implants have been warned about by British intelligence.
Originally Posted by LuvAirFrance
Yeh, watch out for those exploding boobs. Wait a minute, they are all exploding boobs!
May 8, 10, 9:52 pm
#41
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,051
This from the Daily Mail:
Of course, taking a hypodermic on board in your carry on might raise some eyebrows.
For what its worth the Daily Mail article says they expect the explosive packet to be surgically implanted, not swallowed or in a suppository. That does get around some problems. But I'm betting the male mules are gonna be restless during the flight since I fully expect the surgical site will be infected. I m ean why would they worry about infection in a guy who is willing to die within minutes or hours?
By the way, everything I read on this subject says both sides are standing on a platform built by Irish terrorists.
Security sources said the explosives would be detonated by the bomber using a hypodermic syringe to inject TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) through their skin into the explosives sachet.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0nOtDBeVC
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0nOtDBeVC
For what its worth the Daily Mail article says they expect the explosive packet to be surgically implanted, not swallowed or in a suppository. That does get around some problems. But I'm betting the male mules are gonna be restless during the flight since I fully expect the surgical site will be infected. I m ean why would they worry about infection in a guy who is willing to die within minutes or hours?
By the way, everything I read on this subject says both sides are standing on a platform built by Irish terrorists.
May 8, 10, 10:04 pm
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 43
Originally Posted by LuvAirFrance
But I'm betting the male mules are gonna be restless during the flight since I fully expect the surgical site will be infected. I m ean why would they worry about infection in a guy who is willing to die .
but you mentioned "male" mules.... here what I'm thinking....
pregnant mules? or more precisely... it's easier to surgically
implant something in a female and make her look pregnant.
much more space for whatever.... (or breat implants)... I mean
nobody's gonna aske a pregnant lady to take her clothes off
just to see if she's really pregnant, right? (or a lady with
big breast to see if they are implants with foreign objects?)
May 9, 10, 12:35 am
#44
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,051
Yeh, but diabetics don't really need a hypodermic. Also, are security gonna be eager to accept a South Asian, flying to the USA, carrying a note from a Pakistani doctor "Please let my patient carry his hypodermic. Oh, and he's had recent surgery so he needs his special pillow". If they don't give him an enhanced search, I don't want to be on that plane.
