French search for stolen Semtex

French search for stolen Semtex

news.bbc.co.uk

French anti-terrorist officers are searching for 28kg (61lb) of Semtex explosive missing from a depot in the suburbs of the city of Lyon.

France's interior ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, saying the manager of the site had been suspended.

Semtex is a powerful explosive favoured by terrorist groups as it is odourless and practically impossible to detect.

Police said detonators were also missing and that they are treating the theft "very seriously".

(visit the link for the full news article)

28kg (61lb) of Semtex explosive
im no expert but how much damage can that much semtex used the right way cause?

how does one lose that much in their own backyard

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by bodrul


a 2lb car bomb would cause devastation if it was say wrapped in around gas cannisters and bags of nails. That 61 lb is an arsenal for some one.

The Real IRA, which was also responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998, used just 2lb of the Semtex in the device that exploded in London in the early hours of Thursday morning. The explosive was part of a 1,000lb cache of Semtex that the republican splinter group took with them when they split from the Provisional IRA in 1997 and which has been added to by recent republican defectors.

Telegraph





[edit on 18-7-2008 by Dan Tanna]

A good example would be to look in the past the Lockerbe jet was brought down by an amount equal to a silver dollar hidden in a radio stored in the luggage hold


This is obviously VERY serious. I'm going to keep an eye on this story

Oh and by the way you asked how could somebody " Loose " this stuff

uuhhhmmm
Frogs rebbitt


[edit on 18-7-2008 by SLAYER69]

reply to post by Dan Tanna


damn, if this is in the hands of the wrong people
and considering its france where riots happen alot
and with its change in stance on the global scale.

i smell a false flag coming up

an attack that will shock europe.

Well and that for a country that is now leader of the EU.


I don't believe you can loose so much of the orange stuff, it is creepy indeed.

Semtex is a concentrated explosive. If it is shaped it can penetrate steel and hardened structures. If it is used as a primary ignitor for something else..WHICH I WILL NOT SAY HERE OR ANYWHERE ELSE...a 2lb precursor could have a potential to level a couple city blocks. VERY dangerous stuff. I hope the french have a good handle on this theft.

reply to post by djvexd


Why won't you say? I hate to tell you but pretty much any information on explosives is available via your local library, the internet and the patent office.

It's a very worrying thing that this has gone missing, such a large amount of semtex is not something you take without meaning to use it all. The idea we could see an attack resembling the IRA attacks of earlier years is a very bad thought. Let's hope this stuff is found.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

becasue I am pretty sure that divulging the chemical makeup of an IED is against the rules on this site..lol
not to mention I am still bound by SSI contract.

[edit on 19-7-2008 by djvexd]

Originally posted by bodrul
i smell a false flag coming up

I smell a string of French security officials being added to the country's ever so growing unemployment figures.

Either this is heading for dissident republicans in Northern Ireland, ETA in Basque (which is very likely) or some other radical group is about to pay a visit to a European city near you.

Semtex is the key factor for making a deadly car bomb.

Better Question:

Why had they stockpiled this much Semtex in the first place? It couldn't have been the entire load, so I'm assuming that the 1000 KG someone mentioned above for Ireland was probably a good guess.

What does a country not in wartime need with that much Semtex if 2kg applied correctly will knock down a city block?

That this has gone missing is terrible, utter devastation could be unleashed across europe at totally random and uncontrollable points.

Should this 61lb be used in a good and proper tactical manner by a person who knows whats what and the like, well lets just hope GIGN and interpol are fleet of foot on this matter. I for one am glad I don't travel the channel tunnel daily, or I would be sh#### bricks right now.

I pray real hard this lot is found all intact and not used, not even an ounce.

Some of the newer Semtex only has a three year shelf life.

They could be using this to track some network as well.

Also their is a detection tanngent in the new stuff.

The old Semtex....Sudan1 is a red orange..the new stuff is reddish brown..Sudan 4.

Libya used a silver dollar size of this stuff to bring down the jet over Scotland.


It can also be used as a precursor....

Pan Am 103 was brought down by an 11 ounce baseball sized lump of semtex.... terrifying isn't it? Used properly it is devastating.

Secondly, explosias deal with the Czech military is for 20 years shelf life Semtex. 20 years is still produced even today and in quantaties far greater than what the Czechs ordered, so question is who else is getting 20 year+ semtex?

(Lets not also forget that the 28 tonnes or so of Semtex-H the IRA have still hidden has a shelf life of 35 years and >.)

yes its horrible lets hope it doesn't end up in america and cause the election to be put on hold. hmmm
no but seriously that much around a city like new york applied as a group of demolition charges on bridges you would even have to collapse the bridges just make the citizens think they were unsafe do you have any idea of the panic that would result.

Im no explosives expert, but 61 pounds of any explosive is a bit much to just go missing. Interesting story.

I am guessing that much spread out and used efficiently could do a lot of damage.

This stuff is like gold in the underworld.


It could be going anywhere.


I don't understand the lack of security in an age when we can have electronic lock down at almost anypoint in this world!

Strange days indeed.

i said in another thread friday that France is the prime target for a false flag attack..im thinking the channel tunnel would be number one on any terrorist list.....

reading this little snippet from the Telegraph, they say it was military grade bomb disposal Semtex.

Thats bad news, as they will have the older variant with a huge shelf life. One telling point is that they are not sure how many detonaters went missing.

I sure as hell am double glad now I live far, far away from France!

The 28 kilograms of the explosive were discovered to be missing yesterday along with an unknown quantity of detonators, but the Interior Ministry said they could have been taken more than a week ago.


The Lyon depot is situated in a disused 19th century castle at Corbas near Lyon and is used by a civil defence unit to store explosives needed for bomb disposal workers.

“A theft of explosives used by bomb-disposal experts to destroy munitions retrieved from former battlefields has taken place,” said a statement from the Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

telegraph

reply to post by Dulcimer



Not missing, stolen.

The French anti terror police are damn good, and I pray they get this back double quick. If not, there will be sleepless nights aplenty for alot of folks.