Italy Arrests Four Moroccans with Maps, Cyanide

abc ^ | 2/19/02

[knak]

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police arrested four Moroccans on Tuesday in possession of large quantities of cyanide and maps of Rome highlighting the location of the U.S. embassy, ANSA news agency reported early on Wednesday.

ANSA quoted police sources as saying the Moroccans, aged 30 to 40, also had maps of Rome's water system.

Police were not immediately available for comment.

At least two of the men arrested had been followed after three other Moroccans were arrested last week, ANSA said.

[denydenydeny]

No one in Italy drinks tap water, which is of very poor quality there.

[Shermy]

These people mean to kill us!

True, but the forces of PCism and profiteering are arrayed to explain to you that this is not true. Watch when Bush announces an Amnesty for illegal immigrants, then "compromises" with an allegedly "fair" system.

[P-Marlowe]

Cyanide.....Water Supply...... It's for real folks. These people mean to kill us!

Simple solution: Don't drink tap water.

[Travis McGee]

"Let them eat cake."

"Let them drink Evian."

Billions of people worldwide depend on safe drinking water coming out of their taps.

[ASA Vet]

I wonder how many dead wahabee mullahs it would take

My final answer is "All of them."

Do I win?

[mrustow]

I just want to know how they were able to profile Moroccans, I mean, genetically aren't they kissing cousins to Sicilians? How did they differentiate? What was it? Were they wearing non-stylish clothes? Non tight shoes? Beards? What gave them away?

Who said they differentiated? They thought they WERE Sicilians, and were relieved to find out they were ONLY Arab terrorists!

[Mamzelle]

The Italians thought they had terrorism immunity...

[mathurine]

Latest score: after the first period, Iago 1-Othello 0.

[KC Burke]

Water systems, most of which are "looped" can suck contaminates back into their system due to pressure fluctuations during the various usage loads across a days span. This is why over the last 15 years the bigger municipal water supplies have mandated back-flow devices on new water taps. Most fire sprinkler systems however don't have them due to the size of the line. Instead they have detector check or double check valves. Old water taps have not usally had this feature added.

Once contaminants are in the system past your local tap on the main, they circulate freely. Shut off any water tap branch, add contaminate upstream of the back-flow and its going to work its way back to the whole system diluted only by the volumn of water in the system in its local area.

[miscout]

Everyone in Italy drinks bottled water.

[Clean Sweep2]

"Ever heard of pumps"

Lets not get anymore specific about this. We don't need to make the job easier for anyone who hasn't figured this out yet.

[max epr]

Re your #41. Your warped perception of the "Sicialian" appearance reveals your ignorance. Some of Sicilians are indeed swarthy but hardly all. The appearance difference between them and the Middle Eastern types is enormous. Somehow though, I don't think you are capable of diserning even that chasm. Your premise starts with the assumption that anything accomplished by an Italian is an anomaly. Alas, on this site you'e not alone.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Simply pumping against the mains pressure is not itself a difficult goal, and a pipe break wouldn't be needed. After pipe breaks in the mains are mended, generally there are public cautions not to ingest the water until it has been tested for safety (though that would be a micro-organism test, not a poison test). During the day the flow through the mains would be brisk and quickly dilute any poison; night time might be another story. Ordinary spray type pressure washers can generate thousands of PSI (although at a fairly slow flow rate) and normal water pressure is in the vicinity of 70 or so PSI. The terrorists would need to first collect a large enough supply of water, of course, to be able to send the poison back to the mains. Probably much more than a bathtub or water heater full. (Houses with a spa or a swimming pool -- which would be most likely to be found in the wealthy areas of town -- would seem to be most suspect.)

This having been said, I wonder if this whole thread should be canned. I would hate it if Free Republic turned out to be a school for terrorists.

[max epr]

Re your #66. You are clearly a bigot.

[Travis McGee]

Yeah, I guess we are treading into dangerous territory, like the discussion of improvised explosives.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Judgment call for you... is the speculation going on in this thread too dangerous (as in cluing in would-be terrorists)?

P.S. I'm glad my house is on a well. There's still the water table to be concerned about, but that has a smaller exposure to tampering than a municipal supply.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The Mafia don't try to terrorize a whole community.

[HiTech RedNeck]

P.S. Wouldn't it be ironic if, in fact, the Mafia got peeved enough to root this Arab terrorism problem out on its own. Unlike the police they don't consider themselves bound to play by the rules. A poisoning incident at a wealthy location in Italy could get them involved.

[mrustow]

Re your #66. You are clearly a bigot.

Re your #74. You are clearly an idiot. Take an irony supplement, and go to bed.