4 Bombs found in Brisbane man's home.

Four bombs — some embedded with nails and razor blades — and 10 detonators were allegedly found at Amundsen's home during a police raid on Tuesday night
John Howard Amundsen, 40, appeared in a Brisbane court on Thursday, charged with fraudulently obtaining 53kg of an explosive substance called Powergel.

Australian authorities arrested this guy who lives at home alone with his mother earlier this week. They found four bombs containing upto 53kg's of an explosive substance called Powergel. One of the bombs also contained nails and razor blades. A news report stated that it was enough explosive to destroy the block on which his home was situated. This guy is also a school teacher and books on Osama Bin Laden were also discovered in his home. Police say they arrested the guy only after he had made a hoax bomb threat and they looked into it.

www.smh.com.au...

www.theage.com.au...

Heres what gets me, this guy used forged documents to obtain the explosives. Now if this guy hadnt made this hoax call which initially alerted the cops can you imagine the carnage this guy could have caused. What if he'd planted them at the school where he works. So it basically came down to the only reason anyone discovered what he was up to was a hoax call that he had made. So the fact that a person had purchased 53kg of explosive didnt ring any alarm bells and if it did the pathetically slow response the authorities made only barely averted disaster. My understanding is that these bombs were ready to go. So much for us being secure from terrorist attacks on home soil. Imagine a seriously determined group of individuals with better resources than this guy. Can any security measures, which are much higher since 9/11, stop something like this from occuring, he was only discovered through his own stupidity really.

On a slightly lighter note i just loved this quote from his defence attorney

"He's not associated with any terrorist organisations, there is a completely plausible and non-nefarious explanation for the circumstances in which he finds himself," he said.

(text in bold is my emphasis)

Yeah right, theres a perfectly good reason why this guy has 4 bombs containing 53kg's of explosives in his garage containing nails and razor blades. He planned on weeding the back yard over the weekend and his lawnmower doesnt work. He has a roach infestation. His rice bubbles didnt have enough snap, crackle and pop.

WRONG, the guys a nut and planned on killing a heap of innocent people. imo.

Who believes in coincidence, the guy's two first names are the same as our pri minister!(John Howard Amundsen.

Any comments.

Cheers
M4S

It certainly was an interesting series of developments. It is hard, at this point, to determine whether or not this individual was a dedicated terrorist or terrorist sympathiser or whether he was simply insane or seeking attention. Either way, he's going to be charged under the Australian Government's tough new anti-terrorism laws.

In terms of our relative safety and the ability of security and counter-terrorism organisations to protect us, of course things are bound to slip through the cracks. After all, you can't watch everybody. Nor, for that matter, should you. However, the very fact that he was caught and wasn't able to put his bombs to any kind of use suggests that these organisations are doing a pretty good job, in my opinion. I'm sure that lone, random crazies are far harder to keep track off than larger, more organised cells. This must especially be the case if these individuals defy profiling - is the individual caucasian?

It will be interesting to see what becomes of this guy, although his goose is pretty much cooked. It's kind of difficult to plead not guilty when the police can wheel in your bombs and terrorist-related literature.

Oh, did you see the excuse he posited for the bombs' existence? They were to be used in a film he was shooting. Good grief.

Edit: Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has now stated that there is no reason to believe the individual has links to any broader terrorist organisations.

Reference

[edit on 11/5/06 by Jeremiah25]

I dont believe he is connected to any organisation, but if he hadnt made a hoax call, from what ive read he would not have been traced. Thats scary. Surely its easier for the 'authorities' to catch a crazy (there not thinking straight so are going to give themselves away, like this guy) than it would be for them to nab a sophisticated terrorist cell with, intelligence, resources, manpower and fanatacism. Just my opinion.

Perhaps he was filming mission impossible in his garage.LOL.

Cheers
M4S