Semtex least detectable explosive

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 8

Semtex least detectable explosive

NZPA-AP Washington Semtex, suspected as the material used to destroy Pan Am Flight 103, is an odourless, orangecoloured plastic explosive and the least detectable known to terrorism experts. The substance is manufactured by the Eastern Bohemian Works, a State-owned arms factory in Czechoslovakia. Terrorism experts, as well as United States State Department officials, say Syria and Libya have obtained Semtex from Czechoslovakia and passed it on to surrogate terrorist groups. British authorities said yesterday that the residue of explosives recovered from the debris of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet in Scotland was “consistent with the use of a high-performance plastic explosive.” Speculation focused on Semtex. The United States also manufactures plastic explosives, going back to a substance known as C-3 at the end of World War Two and a more updated version called C-4. Other arms-producing countries also make plastic explosives.

But Semtex is the only such substance to have defied all detection attempts by bomb-sniffing dogs, X-ray machines and other devices, terrorism experts say. It also has the advantage of being stable, meaning it does not go off in uncontrolled circumstances.

It can be placed in a suitcase and appear as a dense mass on an X-ray operator’s screen. It also can be shaped to resemble other, innocent-look-ing objects. Electronic detonators can be cloaked in calculators or other devices, experts say.