An explosive situation

• Autores: Paul Marks
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2916, 2013, pág. 22
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • At some roadside checkpoints in Iraq there are still guards who will point a handheld device at people, cars and trucks in the hope its antenna will twitch to reveal the presence of a bomb. But the contraption doesn't work; it's just a radio aerial swinging on a handle. Unfortunately, the message about its deadly ineffectiveness hasn't reached all its users. Last week, James McCormick, whose company made euro50 million selling the fake bomb detectors for up to euro27,000 each, was jailed for 10 years for what a judge at London's Old Bailey called a callous confidence trick that resulted in dozens of deaths after cars containing bombs were waved through checkpoints where the device was being used to screen for explosives.