I.R.A.'S technology reckoned

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 20

I.R.A.'S technology reckoned

NZPA-AAP London The I.R.A. has the technology to plant bombs 18 months or more before they are intended to explode, say Irish security sources. “With modern microchips and sophisticated electronic circuits, you could devise a bomb for planting in the foundations of a building under construction,” the Daily Telegraph was told. “If you could find a power unit to last long enough, you could make a bomb that would go off in 100 years time,” the security source in Belfast said. It means that the threat of more Brighton-style bombs in Britain, issued by the I.R.A. last week, was no idle one.

Being able to pick the precise time and location for an explosion well ahead gives the terrorists plenty of

time to plan attacks with relatively little danger of being detected. Any occasion with places and dates determined well in advance and widely publicised must all now be potential targets for the I.R.A. bombers, the newspaper said. Security sources warn the danger is even greater in Britain, where people are not so security conscious as in Northern Ireland. All that limited the I.R.A. was finding people with the technical skills necessary, and who were terrorists or willing to support them, they said. To overcome this, the I.R.A. had intimidated electricians, electronic engineers, and others with the required skills into devising bombs, the newspaper was told.