Al-Qaeda’s DIY Kit

AL-QAEDA “terrorist chiefs” have produced a “DIY missile-making guide” for anyone with access to the Internet.

You can see the Al-Qaeda plotter wandering around his B&Q saver centre on a Sunday morning; a little bit of sticky-backed plastic, some sturdy cardboard and half a tonne of Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine and job done. The grouting in the en-suite wet room can wait.

But a word of warning from Neil Doyle, a “terrorism expert”, says the Sun. A look at Mr Doyle’s website reveals him to be the author of the book Terror Base UK. His website has an “Alerts” section. This is useful. Sadly, at the time of our looking it was “Down for maintenance.” The war will not be emailed.

But Mr Doyle does tell us that the warheads attached to these homemade missiles could be chemical rather than conventional explosives. The would-be amateur mass murderer may care to go to Boots or Super Drug to give his weapon added potency.

And then take care. While the alert service for potential victims is down, Mr Doyle does issue a warning to the home jihadi. Says he: “But a major challenge for any group planning to use these is testing them without being noticed.”

Indeed. You can see the assorted flyers of homemade radio controlled aircraft looking on with a mixture of awe and fear as the new arrival strides up to the recreation ground with a Scud missile tucked under his arm.

We are no experts in such thing, but surely the health and safety executive frown on such behaviour. We stand well back when lighting a Roman Candle; let off a chemical warhead and run the risk of falling foul of local bylaws.

Of course, you can always secrete the warhead about your person. The Sun says that a British tourist, one Mohammed Azizul Islam, has been arrested in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, with £40,,000 in cash on his person.

A court heard how Mr Azizul tried to pay a bus driver to take him to Sydney. Suspicions were aroused. The court heard Mr Azizul had in his possession a mobile phone “covered in a substance which led police to believe he had hidden it inside his body”.

Mr Azizul has no link to terrorism, although he has a rich criminal history in the UK. We use him for illustrative purposes only.

There are ways and there are means. But the danger is ever present. As Omar Nasi, a man the Sun calls a “spook” recruited in the UK to track Osama bin Laden, says, Abu Hamza is a victim of bad preparation.

Nasri says Hamza did not lose his hands defusing a landmine in Afghanistan, as he claims. Nasri says Hamza was in Assad Allah’s bomb making class when things went wrong.

In learning how to make nitroglycerine, the material became too hot. The trainee, allegedly one Abu Hamza, rather than putting the dangerous brew in iced water foolishly dashed to the door with it. The concoction blew up. Hamza lost his hands and an eye.

The warning is clear. Missiles and bombs are dangerous. The advice is to leave well alone – or else ask the British Government if you can buy a readymade explosive…

Posted: 21st, November 2006 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink