Israeli security last month arrested a man linked to suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden armed with a radiological backpack bomb, as he attempted to enter Israel from the Palestinian Territories via a border checkpoint at Ramallah, according to U.S. government officials. The arrest took place during the last week of September, according to one knowledgeable official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He declined to give the exact date of arrest. Two other sources interviewed by UPI confirmed the incident, but also declined to give further details.
"People know how to walk a dog back," one said, meaning that relating too exact an account could lead to the identification of the source of the information.
Regarding the arrest, a U.S. government official said: "There was only one individual involved. He was from Pakistan."
Pakinuclear pa-PING!!
Imagine the panic if someone set off a dirty nuke here. We have a handful die from Anthrax and the country flips. A nuke? Wouldn't matter that it wasn't the real kind.
A U.S. government expert said that the weapon captured by Israel was a backpack device that CIA officials learned about through Russian intelligence agents in place in 1995. He emphasized it was not a so-called nuclear suitcase bomb.
Backpack bombs have no such codes, but they were also designed for Spetznetz forces and have such an intricate and complex system of activation that the ability of a terrorist to detonate one "would be incredibly limited," according to one U.S. government official.
Thanks for the information.