Flashlight Warning I Received

I recently received this interesting memo about flashlights and wanted to share it. Definitions: IED:Improvised Explosive Device. EOD: Explosive Ordinance Disposal. Frank

Subject: Flashlight IED Alert
SUBJECT: Safety Alert-Secondary Explosive Devices
SOURCE: HQ Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Washington D.C.

SUMMARY: There has been a recent increase in the use of flashlights as housings for explosive devices in the United States and its territories. Essentially, individuals have booby-trapped flashlights and left them at the crime scenes, bomb and arson scenes or were their intended victim will find them. To date, these devices have killed one law enforcement officer, injured several and injured a number of civilians. The flashlights are generally metal, like the Mag-lite or Kell-lite. The batteries are removed and a small pipe bomb is inserted into the housing. The bomber then rigs the flashlight in one of two ways, either wiring the flashlight to explode when the switch is activated or setting the bomb to trigger if it is moved, by use of a purchased or improvised mercury switch. A Mag-lite rigged with an improvised motion switch claimed the life of a Puerto Rican Peace Officer. During the conduct of crime scene searched, or in any circumstance when a flashlight is encountered where it is not expected, leave the light alone. If the owner is located, allow the owner to take custody of the light. If no owner can be found contact EOD or the local bomb squad. Do not attempt to open or examine the light yourself. If the bomb squad tries to laugh at you, remind them that the Alcohol tobacco & Firearms has reported finding about 20 of these in the last year and tell them you're not going to touch it.

That's scary. On another note, there goes flashlights as carry-on for flights.

Nah - just run it through the xray machine - if they can't tell those are batteries inside and not C-4, they shouldn't be working the security scanning station.

The terrorists have now gone too far. Planes, trains, and buses are one thing, but exploding a flashlight is sacreligious.

Also, think about the poor flashlights sitting in evidence rooms, with no flashaholic to feed them and take them for walks. Members of CPF, it is time to unite!

Yeah as far as flashlights as caryons--They'll just make you turn it on and back off, maybe take it apart. Just make sure you choose your caryons wisely--nothing too exotic!

What will these creeps be rigging up next? Photon keychain lights? Sheesh. Pretty soon we'll all just be boarding flights with little more than the shirts on our backs.

Originally posted by Saaby:
nothing too exotic!

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Would a Centurion with TAD qualify?

Sounds like a LE urban myth...I would like to see actual reports not just second hand reports as listed in the initial post.

--dan

I checked with a law enforcement source and was told the bulletin on flashlights being used as improvised explosive devices is correct.

Yet another reason to stay away from Mag-lites!

Here's something that's been showing up lately at airports. The next time the guy sitting next to you takes out his cell phone to make a call, you may not like it.........

Cell Phone Gun

Those have been showing up at AIRPORTS?!?!?!? Why haven't we heard about those before?

That thing looks like a similar mechanism to the old WWII german belt-buckle gun that was invented
ostensibly to enable captured SS officers to escape. Also looks like 22lr. caliber, which out of a 2.5in. barrel would give you very low velocity, and a LOT of noise! BTW I still think the CIA had the right idea when they invented their all plastic, and ceramic pistol. It fired special ceramic bullets semiautomatic, if I am not mistaken. It was invented for those "wet" operations that we don't do anymore.

Here's some interesting reading:
http://www.avsec.com/

Sheesh...it finally took this long for this to be made public? For the newbies here I have been very vocal for a looonnngg time about the "bad uses" of flashlights or our mods. Hopefully many months ago when I became suspicious about some weird requests for the Brinkmann mods I was selling out of the country I suspended all internet sales, only in the state of Alaska to certain companies, Snapon and MAC Tools mostly that are my clients now.

Here's an article from last May that mentions flashlights as bombs:
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/19/Worldandnation/Building_bombs_to_kee.shtml

To turn flashlights into bombs is the most sick, immoral, degenerate, depraved, vicious, diabolical, perverse, heinous, vile, and fiendish act a human being can do. It turns good into evil, light into darkness, clarity into confusion, and sweetness into vileness. It can potentially taint flashaholics the world over, giving our obsession an air of menace and suspicion. We need to organize a nationwide flashaholics conference to develop a way to counteract this hideous threat. More importantly, such a conference would give us a chance to see, compare, admire, trade or even buy each others' flashlights. That would be an event worth attending!

I think it would be a good idea for any of the serious modders here to offer our services to any agency such as airport security or such as to the possible ways to build an IED to resemble an LED type of light.Myself I think its a very serious threat since everybody is looking for boomboxes and shoes or laptops. And since its also easy to seal a flashlight a sniffer may be ineffective. With all the different battery types now the density difference of one packed with semtex or C4 may also not be picked up by a scanner.And size makes little difference, even the AAA tube of a Solitaire has the explosive capacity to blow out a cabin door or latch. But I am sure the experts can testify or correct me on that, since I am also a gunsmith I know how many grains of powder would fill a .50 BMG cartridge case and that is about 212 gr. and would fit in a AA tube easily.
Matter of fact I have a "mod" of a 50 BMG brass case minus bullet with an LED and battery for a flashlight, makes an interesting conversation piece.Whole thing fits in a tube that slides into the case battery and all, uses primer pocket switch, no its not for sale because I use it for an inspection light for barrels.

I just returned from a flight to the Mid West last week with the following lights:

TACM III, Inova X5, Surefire D3 with SRTH turbohead, UKE 2L, ARC AAA Le, Photon II. All lights had batteries, plus I had two extra 123's in my cellphone holster and three extra in another holster. I was neither stopped nor searched on either the departure or arrival flight.

Does this explosive flashlight news postdate my recent return and should I expect real problems when I fly to Canada this weekend? In addition to the previously mentioned lights, I'll be carrying another 2L, Trek 1400 and the CMG Reactor.

I'm a little concerned now, not to mention the fact that Daniel's post scared the h**l out of me.

Brightnorm

We've had an IED flashlight incident in the UK. This was some months ago, probably before 9/11. The story was in the serious newspapers, and on the national TV news, so well attested.

Sorry, I can't now remember all the details, but a teenage boy picked it up and switched it on, then the device exploded. He was very seriously injured, but as far as I recall, survived the blast.

The flashlight used was a metal bodied 2D cell or similar.

Jahn