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Posted on Thu, Sep. 04, 2003

Necklace bomb recalls Colombia
The unusual device reminds FBI agents of S. American methods
JUDY LIN
Associated Press

ERIE, Pa. - FBI agents said the bomb locked to the neck of a pizza deliveryman who told police he was forced to rob a bank is a type unusual in the United States.

FBI agent Kenneth McCabe said Wednesday that the device was of a kind he had heard of only once, in Bogota, Colombia. A spokesman for the bureau, Bill Crowly, confirmed the rarity of the device. Crowley also said that a second weapon was found in connection with the robbery.

The bomb that killed Brian Wells was secured with a metal collar and lock that FBI officials do not believe was commercially manufactured. Officials released photographs of the device Tuesday in the hope that someone may recognize it.

The second weapon found in connection with the robbery was unique, Crowley said, but he refused to describe it further.

McCabe, the agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office, had said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" that the second weapon was "a sort of a gun."

Investigators are still trying to determine whether Wells, 46, was a willing participant in the bank robbery Aug. 28.

After police surrounded and handcuffed him, Wells said he had a bomb strapped to him and that someone -- he apparently did not say who -- had started a timer on the bomb and forced him to rob the bank.

While police waited for a bomb squad to arrive, the bomb exploded.

FBI experts in Quantico, Va., are reconstructing the bomb, which hung from the lock over Wells' chest, and analyzing a multipage note that was used by the robber. One part of the note was for bank employees, demanding cash, and the other part was instructions for the robber.

Officials refused to discuss the specific contents of the note or further details about the bomb, including whether it had a timer or a remote-control device.

Earlier this summer, Colombian rebels were accused of using such a necklace bomb to try to extort money from a Venezuelan rancher. The man's attackers threatened to detonate it in 72 hours unless they received the equivalent of $187,500, but Colombian and Venezuelan secret police were able to disarm the bomb, authorities said.

A similar bomb in 2000 killed a woman and a police officer who had tried to help defuse the bomb in Bogata.