Homeland Security Warning: Could a Watch become a Weapon?
By Eyewitness News' Jim Dolan
(New York -WABC, January 3, 2005) — There is an intelligence bulletin just out about a type of watch that could be used as a terror weapon. Eyewitness News reporter Jim Dolan reports.
Al Qaeda has proven over the years to be a patient and deadly enemy to the United States, and one that adapts to every move to stop them. Now comes word that Al Qaeda is taking a page from one of the most notorious attacks ever against the west to create even more carnage. According to U.S. intelligence sources, Al Qaeda is trying to obtain watches with a hidden butane lighter and watches with an altimeter built in, that together would be used to bring down commercial airliners.
Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down over Lockerbie, Scotland with a bomb that used an altimeter device to set it off. Al Qaeda, according to intelligence sources, is adapting that technology and trying to combine it with the butane releasing watches that are designed to be used as cigarette lighters.
Altimeter watches show how many feet above sea level a plane is. They are inexpensive, though they are not considered terribly accurate. In Pan Am Flight 103, the bomb was set to go off when the altimeter indicated the plane had reached a certain height.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security bulletin specifically mentions Casio altimeter watches as the most readily available, although there are other brands out there. Watches that can be used as lighters are available on the Internet, and are also inexpensive.
This would make two crucial bomb making components easy for Al Qaeda to smuggle onto an airplane.
Watches are expected to make metal detectors go off, they are not given much scrutiny at airports. Richard Reid, who once smuggled a bomb onto a plane in his shoes, showed that the rest is frighteningly easy to get on board as well.
This information is all still coming into the Eyewitness Newsroom, we'll have more as it becomes available.
Update:
Man Accused Of Pointing Laser At Aircraft To Be Charged
UPDATED: 1:10 am EST January 4, 2005
NEW YORK -- NewsChannel 4 has learned that federal charges will be filed Tuesday against a man who allegedly pointed a laser at a Port Authority helicopter in the skies over New Jersey.
David Banach was allegedly caught on New Year's Eve with a device that emits a powerful green laser. The investigation began last week after a pilot reported the laser flashing into his cockpit three times just minutes before landing at Teterboro Airport.
Banach's defense lawyer said the accused man will surrender to the FBI Tuesday, but she insists her client did nothing wrong.
Sources told NewsChannel 4 that Banach will be charged in connection with the laser incident, and he will also face a second count for allegedly lying to FBI agents who questioned him.
Banach said he was using the laser to point out stars to his 7-year-old daughter, and a short time later, police arrived at his door. He said he had nothing to do with the Wednesday incident in which the pilot complained about the laser.
Similar reports have been made by several pilots from New Jersey to Colorado in recent weeks. Officials said none of the cases have been linked to terrorism, but officials worry that a laser could temporarily blind a pilot in flight.
Banach's lawyer said the father of three has never tried to harm anyone, and he will fight to clear his name.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/4044726/detail.html
Hi ffnj.....this article reminds me of the incidents that were being reported last year regarding groups of ME's in planes going into the bathrooms and acting odd.
It seems that they could have been doing test runs, and checking the altimeters and lighters in the bathrooms and out of sight of the crew and people on the planes.
So while the TSA is asking 80 year-old women to take off their shoes and running the metal detector around my 8 year-old, and feeling-up every woman coming on board....AQ is watching this nonsense and planning their actions accordingly. Sarcasm aside, I would doubt that the TSA has test equipment for butane, and only a very small amount would be needed. Reid was caught because what he was trying to do was so apparent.
Here's a url for that story:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_010305_altimeterwatchwarning.html
"Homeland Security Warning: Could a Watch become a Weapon?"
By Eyewitness News' Jim Dolan
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(New York -WABC, January 3, 2005) — There is an intelligence bulletin just out about a type of watch that could be used as a terror weapon. Eyewitness News reporter Jim Dolan reports. Al Qaeda has proven over the years to be a patient and deadly enemy to the United States, and one that adapts to every move to stop them. Now comes word that Al Qaeda is taking a page from one of the most notorious attacks ever against the west to create even more carnage. According to U.S. intelligence sources, Al Qaeda is trying to obtain watches with a hidden butane lighter and watches with an altimeter built in, that together would be used to bring down commercial airliners.
Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down over Lockerbie, Scotland with a bomb that used an altimeter device to set it off. Al Qaeda, according to intelligence sources, is adapting that technology and trying to combine it with the butane releasing watches that are designed to be used as cigarette lighters.
Altimeter watches show how many feet above sea level a plane is. They are inexpensive, though they are not considered terribly accurate. In Pan Am Flight 103, the bomb was set to go off when the altimeter indicated the plane had reached a certain height."