Examine individual changes
Appearance
This page allows you to examine the variables generated by the Edit Filter for an individual change.
Variables generated for this change
Variable | Value |
---|---|
Edit count of the user (user_editcount ) | null |
Name of the user account (user_name ) | '66.59.57.131' |
Age of the user account (user_age ) | 0 |
Groups (including implicit) the user is in (user_groups ) | [
0 => '*'
] |
Page ID (page_id ) | 24962554 |
Page namespace (page_namespace ) | 0 |
Page title without namespace (page_title ) | 'ADE 651' |
Full page title (page_prefixedtitle ) | 'ADE 651' |
Last ten users to contribute to the page (page_recent_contributors ) | [
0 => 'Mendaliv',
1 => 'Abductive',
2 => '167.181.12.18',
3 => 'Citation bot',
4 => 'Modest Genius',
5 => 'AlexTiefling',
6 => '115.186.107.81',
7 => 'EdwardLane',
8 => 'Niceguyedc',
9 => 'Prioryman'
] |
Action (action ) | 'edit' |
Edit summary/reason (summary ) | 'Yay allow the edit' |
Whether or not the edit is marked as minor (no longer in use) (minor_edit ) | false |
Old page wikitext, before the edit (old_wikitext ) | '{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2012}}
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq.jpg|image2=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq-crop.jpg|width=300|caption2=An Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint using an ADE 651 or similar device}}
The '''ADE 651''' is a fake bomb detector<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051 |title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=2013-04-23 |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> produced by ATSC (UK), which claimed that device could effectively and accurately, from [[Long range locator|long range]], detect the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as $60,000 per unit. The Iraqi government is said to have spent £52m ($85m) on the devices.<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> Investigations by the [[BBC]] and other organisations found that the device is little more than a "glorified [[dowsing rod]]" with no ability to perform its claimed functions. In January 2010, export of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan was banned by the [[Her Majesty's Government|British Government]] and the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud,<ref name="Independent-Head of" /> and in June 2010 several other companies were raided by British police.<ref name="BBC-June 2010 raids">{{cite news |first1=Caroline |last1=Hawley |title=Police raids expand bomb detector probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=8 June 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100610043844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm| archivedate= 10 June 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> ATSC was dissolved on 5 March 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.duedil.com/company/03407495/atsc-uk-limited |title=Atsc UK Limited in Somerset - Company Information |publisher=Duedil.com |date= |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> On 23 April 2013, the businessman behind the device, James McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud at the [[Old Bailey]] in London.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051|title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
The use of the device by Iraqi and Pakistani security forces has become a major international controversy. The virtually identical [[GT200]] and [[Alpha 6]] devices, which are widely used in [[Thailand]], have also come under scrutiny in the wake of the revelations about the ADE 651.<ref name="BP-UK bans">{{cite news|title=UK bans bomb detectors|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/166305/uk-bans-bomb-detectors|newspaper=[[Bangkok Post]]|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-26}}</ref>
==Description and background==
The ADE 651 consists of a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip. It requires no battery or other power source; its manufacturer claimed that it is powered solely by the user's [[static electricity]]. To use the device, the operator must walk for a few moments to "charge" it before holding it at right angles to the body. After a substance-specific "programmed substance detection card" is inserted, the device is supposed to swivel in the user's hand to point its antenna in the direction of the target substance. The cards are claimed to be designed to "tune into" the "frequency" of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.<ref name="BBC-Export ban">{{cite news|first1=Caroline |last1=Hawley |first2=Meirion |last2=Jones |authorlink2=Meirion Jones |title=Useless bomb detector sold worldwide risks lives |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=22 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123051950/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind."<ref>{{cite news|last=Lawrence|first=Quil|title=Portable Bomb Detector Prompts Debate In Iraq|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|date=8 September 2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100126132406/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111| archivedate= 26 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> The cards were supposedly "programmed" or "activated" by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance's "vapours". Initially, McCormack reportedly used his own blood to "program" the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretence of "programming" them when demand for the devices was at its peak.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
The promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to {{convert|1|km|mi}}, underground, through walls, underwater or even from aeroplanes at an altitude of up to {{convert|5|km|mi}}. The device is said to work on the principle of "electrostatic magnetic ion attraction".<ref name="nyt4nov09">{{cite news |last=Nordland |first=Rod |title=Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 November 2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100210224644/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html| archivedate= 10 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> According to the promotional material, "by programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electrostatic matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651 could “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been claimed to penetrate lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction."<ref name="Randi">{{cite web |url=http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html |title=A Direct, Specific, Challenge From James Randi and the JREF |publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation |date=7 November 2009 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123010157/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Prosec, a Lebanese reseller of the ADE 651, claimed on its website that the device "works on [[nuclear quadrupole resonance]] (NQR) or [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] (NMR)."<ref name="Prosec">{{cite web|title=ADE-651 Portable Explosive Detector|publisher=Prosec|url=http://www.prosec.com/ADE651.htm|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5mzH8dWfX|archivedate=22 January 2010}}</ref> McCormick told the BBC in 2010 that "the theory behind [[dowsing]] and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar."<ref>{{cite news|last=Morris|first=Steven|title=Boss who sold bomb detectors to Iraq arrested over fraud|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 January 2010 | location=London| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100125074116/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest| archivedate= 25 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
==Development and manufacture==
The device was made by ATSC (UK) Ltd, a company based in a former dairy in [[Sparkford]], Somerset.<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC">{{cite news |first=Simon |last=de Bruxelles |title=Head of ATSC 'bomb detector' company arrested on suspicion of fraud |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6997859.ece |date=22 January 2010| accessdate=2010-01-22 |newspaper=The Times |location=London}}</ref> It has been advertised by a number of companies including Cumberland Industries UK, a company based in [[Kettering]], Northamptonshire,<ref>{{cite web|title=Cumberland Industries UK ADE 651 datasheet|url=http://www.cumberlandindustries.com/content/security/CD3/ADE6513/ADE6512.png|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5l74dFZBl |archivedate=7 November 2009}}</ref> and Prosec of [[Baabda]], Lebanon.<ref name="Prosec" /> It was developed by James McCormick, the company's [[managing director]], a former [[Merseyside Police]] officer with no scientific or technical background.<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" />
ATSC (UK) Ltd was established as a [[private limited company]] (registered company 03407495) on 23 July 1997 under the name "Broadcasting and Telecommunications Limited"; it changed to its present name on 27 March 2008. Its accounts at [[Companies House]] record a turnover of £1.78 million for the year to 31 July 2008, with a gross profit of £1.35 million. Its sole shareholder is its owner, Jim McCormick. A sister company at the same location, ATSC Exports Ltd (registered company 06797101), was established on 21 January 2009, also as a private limited company. It has not filed any accounts as of January 2010.<ref>Companies House records for registered companies 03407495 and 06797101. Retrieved 24 January 2010</ref>
Around 2001, McCormick came across a $20 novelty golf ball finder called the Golfinder, which he copied. He stuck an ATSC label onto it and renamed it the ADE [Advanced Detection Equipment] 100, marketing it as a bomb detector. A subsequent revision of the design, called the ADE 101, was sold for up to $7,000 per unit. He also marketed a version called the ADE 650.<ref name="Guardian-Magic">{{cite news|title=The 'magic' bomb detector that endangered lives all over the world|last1=Morris|first1=Stephen|last2=Jones|first2=Meirion|last3=Booth|first3=Robert|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/23/magic-bomb-detector-lives-risk|work=The Guardian|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> The ADE 651 was a further development of the same design. According to an associate of ATSC, the devices were manufactured at a cost of £150 ($250) each by suppliers in Britain and [[Romania]]. The associate told ''The New York Times'': "Everyone at ATSC knew there was nothing inside the ADE 651."<ref name="NYT-British Man">{{cite news|first1=Riyadh|last1=Mohammed|first2=Rod|last2=Nordland|title=British Man Held for Fraud in Iraq Bomb Detectors|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/europe/24scanner.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 January 2010 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127013559/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/europe/24scanner.html| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> A whistleblower who worked with McCormick to sell the device around the world told the BBC that he once challenged McCormick over the device's effectiveness. McCormick was said to have answered that the device did "exactly what it's meant to ... it makes money".<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
==Users==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:ADE-651 demonstration.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Demonstration of usage of the ADE 651]] -->
The ADE 651 is widely used by the [[Iraqi Police Service]] and the [[Iraqi Army]]. The Iraqi [[Ministry of Interior (Iraq)|Interior Ministry]] bought 800 of the devices in 2008 for £20m ($32m) and a further 700 in 2009 for £32m ($53m), in [[no-bid contracts]] with ATSC. The Iraqi government paid up to £37,000 ($60,000) for the devices despite the purchase price being put at around £11,500 ($18,500).<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> The Iraqi Army's [[Baghdad Operations Command]] announced in November 2009 that it had purchased another hundred of the devices. Jim McCormick of ATSC has said that the devices were sold for £5,000 ($8,000) each, with the balance of the cost going on training and middlemen.<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC" /> The training included instructions to Iraqi users to "shuffle their feet to generate static electricity to make the things work."<ref>{{cite news|last=Roth|first=Richard|title=Faulty Bomb Detectors|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/25/eveningnews/main6140485.shtml|date=27 January 2010 | work=CBS News}}</ref>
[[File:Jawad al-Bulani.jpg|thumb|right|Iraqi Interior Minister [[Jawad al-Bulani]], who defended the use of the ADE 651.]]
The ADE 651 has been used at hundreds of police and military checkpoints across Iraq, often replacing physical inspections of vehicles. It is not used by the US military.<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> Major-General Jihad (also transliterated "Jehad") al-Jabiri of the Interior Ministry's General Directorate for Combating Explosives has defended the device: "Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is detecting bombs. I don't care what they say. I know more about bombs than the Americans do. In fact, I know more about bombs than anyone in the world."<ref name="Independent-Head of">{{cite news|last=Sengupta|first=Kim|title=Head of bomb detector company arrested in fraud investigation|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/head-of-bomb-detector-company-arrested-in-fraud-investigation-1876388.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=22 January 2010 | location=London| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100126085308/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/head-of-bomb-detector-company-arrested-in-fraud-investigation-1876388.html| archivedate= 26 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> He told a press conference that the ADE 651 has detected "hundreds of roadside bombs and car bombs" and any deficiencies were due to defective training in the device's use.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Warren P.|last1=Strobel|first2=Laith|last2=Hammoudi|publisher=McClatchy Newspapers|title=Baghdad security chief out after deadly car bombings|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/12/09/80349/baghdad-security-chief-out-after.html|date=9 December 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22}}</ref> The Iraqi Interior Minister, [[Jawad al-Bulani]], also defended the device, telling [[Al Iraqiya]] television that the ADE 651 had "managed to prevent and detect more than 16,000 bombs that would be a threat to people's life and more than 733 car bombs were defused." He said: "Iraq is considered as a market area for many companies producing such devices ... and there are other rival companies trying to belittle the efficiency of these instruments the government is buying".<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=UK halts exports of machines marketed as bomb detection device for Iraq and Afghanistan|url=http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9DDEMD00|agency=The Associated Press|date=23 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-23}}</ref>
In [[Mexico]] the Government of [[Colima]] bought one of these devices, paying more than $60,000.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gobierno del Estado cuenta ya con equipo para detectar armas, drogas y explosivos: Silverio Cavazos|url=http://www.registrocivil.col.gob.mx/noticia.php?ib=29240|work=Gobierno del Estado de Colima|last=Staff|date=12 September 2009|accessdate=2010-02-21}}</ref> Also, as can be seen in the photography accompanying an article about [[GT200]] published in newspaper La-Ch.com, where can be seen a Mexican soldier using an ADE 651. It is possible that the [[Secretariat of National Defense]] (SEDENA) also bought some units.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ejército combate al narco con tecnología de punta ¿inservible?|url=http://la-ch.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3241:ejercito-combate-al-narco-con-tecnologia-de-punta-iinservible&catid=42:general&Itemid=62|work=La-Ch.com|last=Fausto Ovalle|date=17 February 2009|accessdate=2010-02-25}}</ref>
According to a promotional website for the ADE 651, the device is also used by the [[Lebanese Army]], the [[People's Armed Police|Chinese Police]], the [[Royal Thai Police]] and the Interior Ministry of the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] in [[Iraqi Kurdistan]]. The website claims that the [[Jordan]]ian government requires hotels to employ ADE 651 devices to scan vehicles entering underground car parks.<ref>{{cite web|title=ADE651 – Effectiveness|publisher=ATSC Ltd|url=http://www.ade651.com/efectividadin.html|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5mzH3TCgz|archivedate=22 January 2010}}</ref> ATSC's Jim McCormick says that 20 countries have acquired the device, with purchasers including "the Saudis, Indian police, a Belgian drug squad, a Hong Kong correctional facility and the Chittagong navy."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent">{{cite news|first1=Simon|last1=de Bruxelles|first2=Oliver|last2=August|title=Iraqis spent $80m on ADE651 bomb detectors described as useless|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6935574.ece|newspaper=The Times|date=28 November 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22 | location=London}}</ref> The police in the [[Belgium|Belgian]] municipal region of [[Geel]]-[[Laakdal]]-[[Meerhout]] use the device to detect drugs.<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Dure bomdetector blijkt compleet nutteloos|url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=BR2LA9VU|newspaper=Het Nieuwsblad|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24}}</ref> [[Pakistan]]'s Airport Security Force also uses the ADE 651 as a bomb detector at the [[Jinnah International Airport]] in [[Karachi]].<ref name="Dawn-Lives at">{{cite news|last=Abdullah|first=Hasan|title=Lives at airport threatened by bogus bomb detectors |url=http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/13+lives-at-airport-threatened-by-bogus-bomb-detectors-610-za-08|date=26 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100129214346/http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/13+lives-at-airport-threatened-by-bogus-bomb-detectors-610-za-08| archivedate= 29 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
==Effectiveness==
The use of the ADE 651 has prompted strong criticism and eventually led to a ban on the device's export from the UK to Iraq and Afghanistan and a criminal investigation of its manufacturer. The Iraqi security forces' reliance on the device was highlighted by a ''[[New York Times]]'' investigation in November 2009, which reported that United States military and technical experts believed the device was useless. [[US Army]] Major-General [[Richard Rowe (U.S. Army General)|Richard Rowe]] told the newspaper that "there's [no] magic wand that can detect explosives. If there was, we would all be using it. I have no confidence that these work." [[Sandia National Laboratories]] had carried out testing of several similar devices but found that "none have ever performed better than random chance." Retired [[US Air Force]] Colonel [[Hal Bidlack]], a former national security aide in the Clinton and Bush administrations, condemned the device as "laughable, except someone down the street from you is counting on this to keep bombs off the streets." An Iraqi guard and driver for the ''New York Times'', both of whom were licensed to carry firearms, were able to drive two [[AK-47]] rifles and ammunition through nine police checkpoints that were using the device without any of them detecting the weapons.<ref name="nyt4nov09" />
Iraqi civilians have complained that the device seems to have "an unerring attraction to shampoo and soapsuds". According to Iraqi police officer Jasim Hussein, "The vast majority of the people we stop, it's because of their perfume". A fellow officer, Hasan Ouda, commented that "Most people now understand it's what gets them searched, so they don't use as much." Jim McCormick of ATSC falsely claimed that the apparent responsiveness of the ADE 651 was due to fragrances containing traces of the explosive substance [[RDX]].<ref>{{cite news|first1=Jack|last1=Dolan|first2=Sahar|last2=Issa|title=Iraqi's sweet sorrow: Bomb sniffers detect his perfume|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/06/24/70635/iraqis-sweet-sorrow-bomb-sniffers.html|publisher=McClatchy Newspapers|date=24 June 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22}}</ref>
[[File:RANDI.jpg|thumb|right|In October 2008 [[James Randi]] offered a reward of [[One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge|one million dollars]] to anyone who could prove that the ADE 651 was effective.]]
The veteran Canadian-American magician and sceptic [[James Randi]] has publicly offered [[One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge|one million dollars]] to anyone who can prove the device's effectiveness as far back as October 2008.<ref>{{cite news|first1=James|last1=Randi|title=A Direct, Specific, Challenge From James Randi and the JREF|url=http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123010157/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Randi issued a statement calling the ADE 651 "a useless quack device which cannot perform any other function than separating naive persons from their money. It's a fake, a scam, a swindle, and a blatant fraud. Prove me wrong and take the million dollars."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" /> According to Randi, nobody from ATSC has responded.<ref name="nyt4nov09" />
The German news magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' reported that the ADE-651 had been tested around 2008 in Israel but was "kicked out of the country". An Israeli explosives expert told the magazine: "The thing has absolutely nothing to do with the detection of explosives." When it was displayed at an arms and security fair in Beirut in April 2009, a visiting explosives expert described it as "one big fraud". Gadi Aviran, the head of the Israeli security firm Terrorgence, said: "If someone comes to an expert, claiming that he had developed a device that can detect the smell of explosives from several meters away, the expert must know that this is physically not possible."<ref>{{cite news|last=Putz|first=Ulrike|title=Dunkle Geschäfte mit dem Sprengstoffschnüffler|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,673669,00.html|newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=24 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127202042/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,673669,00.html| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The [[FBI]] has repeatedly issued alerts about dowsing rod devices being used as explosive detectors. It described one such device, the [[Quadro Tracker]], as "a fraud" and told all agencies to immediately cease using it. Another alert issued in 1999 told agencies: "Warning. Do not use bogus explosives detection devices."<ref name="BBC-Export ban" /> A US Army test of a similar device found that it was unable to detect a truck carrying a tonne of [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] when it drove up behind the operator.<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" /> In June 2009, the US Army carried out a laboratory test including X-ray analysis on the ADE 651 that found it to be ineffective. According to Major Joe Scrocca, "The examination resulted in a determination that there was no possible means by which the ADE 651 could detect explosives and therefore was determined to be totally ineffective and fraudulent. As a result of that study, the U.S. military notified all military and civilian personnel in Iraq that the bomb detection device is ineffective and should not be relied upon as a means of ensuring the safety of any personnel."<ref>{{cite news|last=Kirka|first=Danica|title=UK halts exports of machines marketed as bomb detection device for Iraq and Afghanistan|url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOQguoYUK3eozkL1OVGGbWGJM0_w|date=23 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127035407/http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOQguoYUK3eozkL1OVGGbWGJM0_w| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The BBC's [[Newsnight]] programme investigated the ADE 651 in a report broadcast in January 2010, asking the [[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]] to assess one of the "programmed substance detection cards" used in the device to detect TNT. The laboratory found that the card contained only a standard [[Electronic article surveillance#Radio-frequency systems|radio frequency security tag]] of the type used in stores to prevent shoplifting. According to the laboratory's Dr. [[Markus Kuhn (computer scientist)|Markus Kuhn]], it was "impossible" for the card to detect anything and it had "absolutely nothing to do with the detection of TNT". The card could not be programmed, had no memory, no microprocessor and no form of information could be stored on it. Despite the high cost of the devices, the cards were worth only about two to three pence (3–5¢) each. Kuhn commented: "These are the cheapest bit of electronics that you can get that look vaguely electronic and are sufficiently flat to fit inside a card." The "card reader" was found to be an empty plastic box. Psychology professor [[Bruce Hood (psychologist)|Bruce Hood]] has noted that the swinging of the antenna is merely due to its loose assembly and unconscious wrist movements by the user. Explosives expert [[Sidney Alford]] described the device as "immoral", telling Newsnight that "it could result in people being killed in the dozens, if not hundreds". Newsnight noted that thousands of people had indeed been killed and injured in devastating [[car bomb]] attacks in [[Baghdad]] such as the [[25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings|25 October]] and [[8 December 2009 Baghdad bombings]], without the bombers being detected by the ADE 651 devices.<ref name="BBC-Export ban" />
Jim McCormick refused to be interviewed for the Newsnight investigation, but told ''The New York Times'' that ATSC would remain in business: "Our company is still fully operational."<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> He told ''The Times'' that ATSC had been dealing with doubters for ten years and that the device was merely being criticised because of its "primitive" appearance. He said: "We are working on a new model that has flashing lights."<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC" />
==Investigations and export ban==
===United Kingdom===
In January 2010, ATSC's James McCormick was arrested on suspicion of fraud. The investigation was personally ordered by [[Colin Port]], the [[Chief Constable]] of the [[Avon and Somerset Constabulary]]. On 11 July 2012, McCormick was charged on three counts that between January 15, 2007, and July 12, 2012, he had in his possession or control an article for use in the course of or in connection with fraud contrary to Section 6 of the [[Fraud Act 2006]]; and three further charges that between the same dates he made or adapted, supplied or offered to supply an article knowing it was designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with, or intending it to be used to commit, or to assist in a fraud, contrary to Section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Bomb-detector-kit-boss-court-face-fraud-charges/story-16522530-detail/story.html|title=Bomb detector kit boss in court to face six fraud charges|work=Western Daily Press|last=Rowe|first=Tina|date=12 July 2012|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
Following the 2010 BBC Newsnight exposé of the device, the UK Government's [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]] announced that the BBC tests had shown that "the technology used in the ADE 651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection" and they "could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces in Iraq and Afghanistan". It had therefore decided to ban the export of the ADE 651 and similar devices to those two countries under the [[Export Control Act 2002]], with effect from 27 January 2010. The device had not previously been subject to export restrictions as it was non-military equipment. {{Citation needed span|text=The department offered "cooperation with any investigation [the Iraqi authorities] may wish to make into how the device came to be bought for their military as bomb detection equipment."|date=April 2013}} The banning order prohibited the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of "‘electro-statically powered’ equipment for detecting 'explosives'".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Export Control (Amendment) Order 2010. Statutory Instrument 2010 No. 121.|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100121_en_1|date=27 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-28|publisher=Office of Public Sector Information}}</ref>
James McCormick was tried in March-April 2013 at the Old Bailey in London. The court was told that "the devices did not work and he knew they did not work. He had them manufactured so that they could be sold – and despite the fact they did not work, people bought them for a handsome but unwarranted profit." McCormick had falsely represented himself as a member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, using the organisation's logo without permission.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Bomb-detector-sales-scam-denied-Somerset/story-18354393-detail/story.html|title=Bomb detector sales scam denied by Somerset businessman James McCormick|last=Raif|first=Shenai|date=8 March 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> McCormick said that he had sold the ADE 651 and similar devices to security forces internationally but none had complained about them.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/25/bomb-detectors-fraud-court?INTCMP=SRCH|title=No complaints over bomb detectors, fraud accused tells court|last=Morris|first=Stephen|date=25 March 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
On 23 April 2013, McCormick was convicted on three counts of fraud.<ref name="BBC-Guilty">{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051|title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> The chief investigating officer in the case, Detective Superintendent Nigel Rock, said:
{{quote|There was no evidence demonstrated, that McCormick or his company - ATSC UK - conducted any proper research or development into the products manufactured; in fact he refused to submit the ADE devices to independent tests. He sold his detection devices to many governments, defence agencies and private institutions around the world. A large proportion of these were countries where there was and still remains a real risk of terrorism and criminality. Iraq was one country which between 2008-2010 bought 6,000 devices at a cost in excess of $40 million.
The devices were used at numerous checkpoints within Iraq during this period. It is clear that both civilians and armed forces personnel were put at significant risk in relying upon this equipment. McCormick showed a complete disregard for the safety of those that used and relied upon the device for their own security and protection. He amassed many millions of pounds through his greed and criminal enterprise.<ref>{{cite web|title=Somerset explosives detector man found guilty after three year police investigation (Old Bailey)|url=http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/LocalPages/NewsDetails.aspx?nsid=27307&t=1&lid=3|publisher=Avon and Somerset Police|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>}}
It was disclosed that McCormick had made millions of pounds from sales of the ADE 651, with which he had bought a farmhouse in Somerset, [[Nicolas Cage]]'s former £3.5 million house in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] with its own basement swimming pool, holiday homes in [[Cyprus]] and [[Florida]], a £600,000 luxury yacht, and three horses for one of his daughters.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> The police declared that they would seek to "pursue his wealth" using the [[Proceeds of Crime Act 2002]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22271538|title=Police on James McCormick: 'We will now pursue his wealth'|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===Iraq===
[[File:Nouri al-Maliki with Bush, June 2006, cropped.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nouri al-Maliki]], the [[Prime Minister of Iraq]].]]
The failure of the ADE 651 to prevent a series of bombings in Baghdad and the circumstances of its procurement raised concerns in Iraq even before it became the subject of media exposés. The ''New York Times'' reported in November 2009 that Aqeel al-Turaihi, the Iraqi Interior Ministry's inspector-general, had begun an investigation into the contracts that the ministry had signed with ATSC.<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> The [[Prime Minister of Iraq]], [[Nouri al-Maliki]], also ordered an investigation into the effectiveness of the devices following a number of bomb attacks.<ref name="BBC-Export ban" /> The Iraqi parliament did not order an official investigation but Iraqi MP Nadeem al-Jabiri said: "the security and defence committee in the parliament, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, is following up this matter as part of the parliament's duty as a monitoring entity."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" />
The BBC's revelations in January 2010 caused outrage in Iraq. A police officer told ''The New York Times'': "Our government is to be blamed for all the thousands of innocent spirits who were lost since these devices have been used in Iraq." MP Ammar Tuma of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee said: "This company not only caused grave and massive losses of funds, but it has caused grave and massive losses of the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians, by the hundreds and thousands, from attacks that we thought we were immune to because we have this device."<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> He told the ''[[Asharq Al-Awsat]]'' newspaper: "The tasks of the committee are limited to two tracks, [and that is] reaching the truth over what happened with regards to the signing of the contracts for these bomb detection devices; firstly by following up on the details of the contract and looking at the background of this, as well as the possibility of collusion by those who signed this contract, or whether this [ineffectiveness] is the result of technical weaknesses in these devices. Either of these [options] deserves accountability." He said that Defence Minister Abd al-Qadr Muhammed Jassim al-Obaidi had informed the Iraqi Parliament during emergency parliamentary hearings in 2009 that "the detection of car bombs and explosive material using these devices is very limited, and this increases the likelihood that these devices have low efficiency."<ref>{{cite news|last=Al-Ily|first=Nasser|title=Iraq to Investigate Purchase of Defective Bomb Detectors|url=http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19642|newspaper=[[Asharq Al-Awsat]]|date=25 January 2010 |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref>
Another MP, Hussain al-Falluji, demanded that Iraqi security forces should immediately cease using the ADE 651. His proposal to establish an investigative committee and seek to recover the money spent on the devices was supported by other parliamentarians.<ref name="Reuters-Iraq MPs">{{cite news|first=Muhanad|last=Mohammed|title=Iraq MPs demand bomb detector be axed after UK ban|url=http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE60M1J620100123?sp=true|agency=Reuters|date=23 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-23}}</ref> Hadi Al-Ameri, the head of the Parliament's Security and Defense Committee, said that he would push for an official investigation to "find out how this piece of equipment was sold to Iraq." If it was determined that ATSC was responsible he planned to "seek compensation via the ministry of foreign affairs."<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=‘Magic wand’ bomb detector still rules Baghdad checkpoints |url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2010/January/middleeast_January508.xml| agency=AFP |date=24 January 2010 |accessdate=2010-01-24}}</ref> MP Haneen Kado said: "If we rely on these devices there is no point in having checkpoints. It makes the whole of Baghdad open to terrorist attacks. We are in a dangerous situation and there could be new bombings at any time. We must investigate exactly who bought and sold these detectors and see that they answer in court."<ref name="National-Purchase of">{{cite news|last=Latif|first=Nizar|title=Purchase of 'useless' Iraq bomb detectors 'was corrupt'|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/FOREIGN/701309904/1002|date=30 January 2010|work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]]| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100207004418/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/FOREIGN/701309904/1002| archivedate= 7 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The Supreme Board of Audit in Iraq announced an investigation into the procurement of the ADE 651, focusing on the officials who had previously given assurances of the device's technical soundness.<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> The Iraqi Army's Baghdad Operations Command, which had previously procured 100 of the devices, distanced itself from their use. Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said: "The devices have helped us in parts of our work but in some aspects they are not useful. Their performance does not match our aspirations. There is some percent of error in their performance and these devices must be updated."<ref name="Reuters-Iraq MPs" /> Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was reported to have ordered a new investigation of how the devices had been procured, looking into whether there was any corruption involved.<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraq's PM orders probe on bomb detectors|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010876627_apmliraqbombdevice.html?syndication=rss|last=Staff|agency=The Associated Press|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24 | work=The Seattle Times}}</ref>
According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry's inspector-general Aqil al-Turehi, he had investigated the device in 2008 but found it "inoperative" and costly and recommended that Iraq should not buy it. He told Reuters: "There was corruption associated with this contract and we referred to this and submitted our report to the Minister of the Interior. We said that the company which you made a contract with is not well-regarded internationally in the field of explosives detectors, and the price is very high and not commensurate with the abilities of this device."<ref name="Reuters-Iraq official">{{cite news|last=Christie|first=Michael|title=Iraq Official Warned Against Anti-Bomb Device Buy|url=http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/24/world/international-uk-iraq-britain-explosives.html|agency=Reuters|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24 | work=The New York Times}}</ref> Al-Turehi said that the buying process had been "marred by suspicions over the equipment and the efficiency and value of the contracts. There were senior officials involved in these transactions."<ref name="National-Purchase of" /> The initial investigation found that it could detect some bombs and the ministry went ahead with the contract despite al-Turehi's concerns.<ref name="Reuters-Iraq official" /> An unnamed Iraqi officer told the [[Agence France-Presse]] that "We know it doesn't work and that it has been banned [in Britain], but we are continuing to use it. It is bullshit. But still we are lying about it."<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
Despite the controversy, the device is still being used at checkpoints across Iraq. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has defended the continued use of the ADE-651. In 2010, the then head of the ministry's counter-explosives unit, General Jihad al-Jabiri, told the BBC that his organisation had "conducted several tests on them, and found them successful. In addition, we have a series of achievements officially documented by the Baghdad operations centre, from all the provinces, which establish that these devices detected thousands of bombs, booby-trapped houses and car bombs, and we've noticed a reduction of bombing activities to less than 10 per cent of what it was." A senior ministry official, Assistant Deputy Minister General Tareq al-Asl, told ''Asharq Al-Awsat'': "The reason the director of the company was arrested was not because the device doesn't work, but because he refused to divulge the secret of how it works to the British authorities, and the Americans before them. I have tested it in practice and it works effectively and 100% reliably."<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraqi Interior ministry still backing 'bomb detector' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8477601.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=24 January 2010 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127203242/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8477601.stm| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
In February 2011, General al-Jabiri was arrested on corruption charges, centring on the ADE 651 device purchase.<ref>{{cite news |last=al-Salhy |first=Suadad |title=Iraq police official charged in bomb device scandal |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/113747/20110217/iraq-police-official-charged-in-bomb-device-scandal.htm |publisher=International Business Times |date=17 February 2011 |accessdate=19 February 2011}}</ref> He was subsequently convicted of taking millions of dollars of bribes from McCormick and was imprisoned along with two other Iraqi officials.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> Up to 15 Iraqis are said to have been on McCormick's payroll, receiving money through a bank in [[Beirut]].<ref name="BBC-Fake" />
Aqil al-Turehi said that he "feel[s] furious when I think that this gang of Jim McCormick and the Iraqis working with him killed my people by creating false security and selling such a useless device". In one incident, a vehicle carrying rockets and missiles travelled undetected through 23 Baghdad checkpoints equipped with the ADE 651.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> The false sense of security provided by the device had catastrophic effects for many Iraqi people, hundreds of whom were killed in bombings that the ADE 651 failed to prevent. The victim of one such bombing, 21-year-old Haneen Alwan, told the BBC that her life had been destroyed after she was caught in a bomb attack which caused massive injuries that killed her unborn child and prompted her husband to divorce her because of her extensive burns, which have so far required her to undergo 59 operations. She said: "When people passed through checkpoints using these devices, they thought they would be safe. But they are useless. The man who sold them has no conscience. He is morally bankrupt. How could he sell them just for money and destroy other people's lives?"<ref name="BBC-Fake">{{cite news|last1=Hawley|first1=Caroline|last2=Jones|first2=Meirion|title=Fake bomb detectors 'destroyed lives'|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013}}</ref>
===Pakistan===
After the ADE 651 became the focus of controversy for its role in Iraq, concerns were raised in Pakistan about its employment as a bomb detector by the Pakistani security forces. A senior official at Jinnah International Airport denied that it was using the ADE 651, claiming that the Airport Security Force had designed the device in use there, but other ASF officials acknowledged that their device "operated on the same principle as ADE-651." Pakistani scientists rejected the scientific basis on which the device was claimed to work; Professor Shahid Zaidi of Karachi University told the Pakistani newspaper ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]'' that "there has to be an electric, magnetic or electromagnetic field for a device to work in such a manner. Furthermore static fields don’t move around the way it is being claimed by some. Also don’t forget that there are so many radio waves of different frequencies all around us. I just don’t see how this device would work." ''Dawn'' challenged the ASF to test the device to confirm its effectiveness but the ASF refused, insisting that the device works.<ref name="Dawn-Lives at" />
===Belgium===
The Belgian police bought an ADE 651 in 2008 for £12,800 to detect drugs, as a supposedly cheaper alternative to a dog. According to Superintendent Theiry Meunier, it was soon apparent that it was ineffective: "We had no results from it. We tried to use the device for detecting drugs in cars for several months. We also provided the detector to detectives seeking to detect drugs. The results again were negative."<ref name="ES-Tycoon">{{cite news|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tycoon-faces-jail-for-50m-bomb-detector-swindle-that-cost-lives-8584749.html|title=Tycoon faces jail for £50m bomb detector swindle that ‘cost lives’|last=Cheston|first=Paul|work=Evening Standard|location=London|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===United Nations===
The [[United Nations]] force in Lebanon ([[UNIFIL]]) bought five ADE 651s at a cost of £46,000 to detect explosives in vehicles. ATSC offered the UN a further 80 of the devices, but declined to provide evidence that the ADE 651 could do what was claimed and suggested that the UN should carry out its own tests. The UN did so over the course of two days but found that the device was "not fit for purpose".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/paid-46-000-unfit-bomb-detectors-court-told/story-18482857-detail/story.html|title=UN paid £46,000 for unfit bomb detectors, court told|work=Western Daily Press|date=21 March 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===Other countries===
The ADE 651 was also sold to customers in [[Bahrain]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Kenya]], [[Niger]], [[Qatar]], [[Romania]], [[Tunisia]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Syria]], the [[United Arab Emirates]] and [[Vietnam]].<ref name="Miror-Conman">{{cite news|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jim-mccormick-conman-sold-fake-1850330|title=Jim McCormick: Conman sold golf ball finders as bomb detectors in 'diabolical' £60m scam which put lives at risk|last=Smith|first=Richard|work=Daily Mirror|date=21 March 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref> The Mövenpick Hotel in Bahrain bought one to detect car bombs but, according to the hotel's head of security, it could not even detect a firework: "It wasn’t working. It wasn’t working at all."<ref name="ES-Tycoon" />
==Other similar devices==
{{main|GT200|Quadro Tracker|Sniffex}}
Another "remote substance detector" device, the Global Technical [[GT200]], has come under scrutiny in Thailand in the wake of the controversy over the ADE 651. The ''Bangkok Post'' reports that the GT200 is virtually identical to the ADE 651 and has been described by critics as a "divining rod" which uses "controller cards", like the ADE 651, to find explosives. The ''Post'' attributes the death of several Royal Thai Police officers to its repeated failures to detect explosives.<ref name="BP-UK bans" />
The [[Quadro Tracker]], also known as the Positive Molecular Locator, was a similar device sold by Quadro Corp. of Harleyville, South Carolina between 1993 and 1996.
Several other similar [[long range locator]] devices are being marketed in various countries, including the [[HEDD1]] (formerly known as [[Sniffex]] Plus), marketed by Unival in Germany; [[Alpha 6]], marketed by ComsTrac in the UK; [[PSD-22]]; and [[H3Tec]].
An apparent recycling of the Quadro Tracker turned up as the DKLabs Lifeguard, which had a similar appearance and made ambitious claims about being able to locate survivors missing under rubble or hiding in shipping containers. It has been proven to be useless in tests by Sandia National Labs.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/1998/980977.pdf | title=Double-Blind Evaluation of the DKL LifeGuard Model 2 | accessdate=2011-01-27 | first1=Dale | last1=Murray | first2=Floyd | last2=Spencer | first3=Debra | last3=Spencer | date=May 1998 | publisher=Sandia Laboratories | volume=SAND98-0977 | series=Sandia Report }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==External links==
*[http://www.ade651.co.uk/ ADE 651 product website]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMP5dBSa2c ADE 651 training video]
*[http://www.atscltd.com/ ATSC corporate website]
*"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leSD9Xth-MQ UK halts 'bomb detector' exports]". Al Jazeera English, 23 January 2010.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTmqfGJhTI James Randi on the ADE 651]. YouTube, 23 January 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ade 651}}
[[Category:Law enforcement in Iraq]]
[[Category:Explosives detection]]
[[Category:Law enforcement equipment]]
[[Category:Consumer fraud]]' |
New page wikitext, after the edit (new_wikitext ) | '{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2012}}
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq.jpg|image2=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq-crop.jpg|width=300|caption2=An Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint using an ADE 651 or similar device}}
The '''ADE 651''' is a fake bomb detector<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051 |title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=2013-04-23 |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> produced by ATSC (UK), which claimed that device could effectively and accurately, from [[Long range locator|long range]], detect the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as $60,000 per unit. The Iraqi government is said to have spent £52m ($85m) on the devices.<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> Investigations by the [[BBC]] and other organisations found that the device is little more than a "glorified [[dowsing rod]]" with no ability to perform its claimed functions. In January 2010, export of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan was banned by the [[Her Majesty's Government|British Government]] and the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud,<ref name="Independent-Head of" /> and in June 2010 several other companies were raided by British police.<ref name="BBC-June 2010 raids">{{cite news |first1=Caroline |last1=Hawley |title=Police raids expand bomb detector probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=8 June 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100610043844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm| archivedate= 10 June 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> ATSC was dissolved on 5 March 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.duedil.com/company/03407495/atsc-uk-limited |title=Atsc UK Limited in Somerset - Company Information |publisher=Duedil.com |date= |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> On 23 April 2013, the businessman behind the device, James McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud at the [[Old Bailey]] in London.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051|title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
One word:FUCK THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THEY ARE A GROUP OF TERRORISTS!!!!!
The use of the device by Iraqi and Pakistani security forces has become a major international controversy. The virtually identical [[GT200]] and [[Alpha 6]] devices, which are widely used in [[Thailand]], have also come under scrutiny in the wake of the revelations about the ADE 651.<ref name="BP-UK bans">{{cite news|title=UK bans bomb detectors|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/166305/uk-bans-bomb-detectors|newspaper=[[Bangkok Post]]|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-26}}</ref>
==Description and background==
The ADE 651 consists of a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip. It requires no battery or other power source; its manufacturer claimed that it is powered solely by the user's [[static electricity]]. To use the device, the operator must walk for a few moments to "charge" it before holding it at right angles to the body. After a substance-specific "programmed substance detection card" is inserted, the device is supposed to swivel in the user's hand to point its antenna in the direction of the target substance. The cards are claimed to be designed to "tune into" the "frequency" of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.<ref name="BBC-Export ban">{{cite news|first1=Caroline |last1=Hawley |first2=Meirion |last2=Jones |authorlink2=Meirion Jones |title=Useless bomb detector sold worldwide risks lives |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=22 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123051950/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind."<ref>{{cite news|last=Lawrence|first=Quil|title=Portable Bomb Detector Prompts Debate In Iraq|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|date=8 September 2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100126132406/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111| archivedate= 26 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> The cards were supposedly "programmed" or "activated" by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance's "vapours". Initially, McCormack reportedly used his own blood to "program" the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretence of "programming" them when demand for the devices was at its peak.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
The promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to {{convert|1|km|mi}}, underground, through walls, underwater or even from aeroplanes at an altitude of up to {{convert|5|km|mi}}. The device is said to work on the principle of "electrostatic magnetic ion attraction".<ref name="nyt4nov09">{{cite news |last=Nordland |first=Rod |title=Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 November 2009| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100210224644/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html| archivedate= 10 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> According to the promotional material, "by programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electrostatic matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651 could “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been claimed to penetrate lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction."<ref name="Randi">{{cite web |url=http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html |title=A Direct, Specific, Challenge From James Randi and the JREF |publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation |date=7 November 2009 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123010157/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Prosec, a Lebanese reseller of the ADE 651, claimed on its website that the device "works on [[nuclear quadrupole resonance]] (NQR) or [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] (NMR)."<ref name="Prosec">{{cite web|title=ADE-651 Portable Explosive Detector|publisher=Prosec|url=http://www.prosec.com/ADE651.htm|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5mzH8dWfX|archivedate=22 January 2010}}</ref> McCormick told the BBC in 2010 that "the theory behind [[dowsing]] and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar."<ref>{{cite news|last=Morris|first=Steven|title=Boss who sold bomb detectors to Iraq arrested over fraud|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 January 2010 | location=London| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100125074116/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/22/bomb-detectors-iraq-arrest| archivedate= 25 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
==Development and manufacture==
The device was made by ATSC (UK) Ltd, a company based in a former dairy in [[Sparkford]], Somerset.<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC">{{cite news |first=Simon |last=de Bruxelles |title=Head of ATSC 'bomb detector' company arrested on suspicion of fraud |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6997859.ece |date=22 January 2010| accessdate=2010-01-22 |newspaper=The Times |location=London}}</ref> It has been advertised by a number of companies including Cumberland Industries UK, a company based in [[Kettering]], Northamptonshire,<ref>{{cite web|title=Cumberland Industries UK ADE 651 datasheet|url=http://www.cumberlandindustries.com/content/security/CD3/ADE6513/ADE6512.png|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5l74dFZBl |archivedate=7 November 2009}}</ref> and Prosec of [[Baabda]], Lebanon.<ref name="Prosec" /> It was developed by James McCormick, the company's [[managing director]], a former [[Merseyside Police]] officer with no scientific or technical background.<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" />
ATSC (UK) Ltd was established as a [[private limited company]] (registered company 03407495) on 23 July 1997 under the name "Broadcasting and Telecommunications Limited"; it changed to its present name on 27 March 2008. Its accounts at [[Companies House]] record a turnover of £1.78 million for the year to 31 July 2008, with a gross profit of £1.35 million. Its sole shareholder is its owner, Jim McCormick. A sister company at the same location, ATSC Exports Ltd (registered company 06797101), was established on 21 January 2009, also as a private limited company. It has not filed any accounts as of January 2010.<ref>Companies House records for registered companies 03407495 and 06797101. Retrieved 24 January 2010</ref>
Around 2001, McCormick came across a $20 novelty golf ball finder called the Golfinder, which he copied. He stuck an ATSC label onto it and renamed it the ADE [Advanced Detection Equipment] 100, marketing it as a bomb detector. A subsequent revision of the design, called the ADE 101, was sold for up to $7,000 per unit. He also marketed a version called the ADE 650.<ref name="Guardian-Magic">{{cite news|title=The 'magic' bomb detector that endangered lives all over the world|last1=Morris|first1=Stephen|last2=Jones|first2=Meirion|last3=Booth|first3=Robert|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/23/magic-bomb-detector-lives-risk|work=The Guardian|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> The ADE 651 was a further development of the same design. According to an associate of ATSC, the devices were manufactured at a cost of £150 ($250) each by suppliers in Britain and [[Romania]]. The associate told ''The New York Times'': "Everyone at ATSC knew there was nothing inside the ADE 651."<ref name="NYT-British Man">{{cite news|first1=Riyadh|last1=Mohammed|first2=Rod|last2=Nordland|title=British Man Held for Fraud in Iraq Bomb Detectors|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/europe/24scanner.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 January 2010 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127013559/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/europe/24scanner.html| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> A whistleblower who worked with McCormick to sell the device around the world told the BBC that he once challenged McCormick over the device's effectiveness. McCormick was said to have answered that the device did "exactly what it's meant to ... it makes money".<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
==Users==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:ADE-651 demonstration.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Demonstration of usage of the ADE 651]] -->
The ADE 651 is widely used by the [[Iraqi Police Service]] and the [[Iraqi Army]]. The Iraqi [[Ministry of Interior (Iraq)|Interior Ministry]] bought 800 of the devices in 2008 for £20m ($32m) and a further 700 in 2009 for £32m ($53m), in [[no-bid contracts]] with ATSC. The Iraqi government paid up to £37,000 ($60,000) for the devices despite the purchase price being put at around £11,500 ($18,500).<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> The Iraqi Army's [[Baghdad Operations Command]] announced in November 2009 that it had purchased another hundred of the devices. Jim McCormick of ATSC has said that the devices were sold for £5,000 ($8,000) each, with the balance of the cost going on training and middlemen.<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC" /> The training included instructions to Iraqi users to "shuffle their feet to generate static electricity to make the things work."<ref>{{cite news|last=Roth|first=Richard|title=Faulty Bomb Detectors|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/25/eveningnews/main6140485.shtml|date=27 January 2010 | work=CBS News}}</ref>
[[File:Jawad al-Bulani.jpg|thumb|right|Iraqi Interior Minister [[Jawad al-Bulani]], who defended the use of the ADE 651.]]
The ADE 651 has been used at hundreds of police and military checkpoints across Iraq, often replacing physical inspections of vehicles. It is not used by the US military.<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> Major-General Jihad (also transliterated "Jehad") al-Jabiri of the Interior Ministry's General Directorate for Combating Explosives has defended the device: "Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is detecting bombs. I don't care what they say. I know more about bombs than the Americans do. In fact, I know more about bombs than anyone in the world."<ref name="Independent-Head of">{{cite news|last=Sengupta|first=Kim|title=Head of bomb detector company arrested in fraud investigation|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/head-of-bomb-detector-company-arrested-in-fraud-investigation-1876388.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=22 January 2010 | location=London| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100126085308/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/head-of-bomb-detector-company-arrested-in-fraud-investigation-1876388.html| archivedate= 26 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> He told a press conference that the ADE 651 has detected "hundreds of roadside bombs and car bombs" and any deficiencies were due to defective training in the device's use.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Warren P.|last1=Strobel|first2=Laith|last2=Hammoudi|publisher=McClatchy Newspapers|title=Baghdad security chief out after deadly car bombings|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/12/09/80349/baghdad-security-chief-out-after.html|date=9 December 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22}}</ref> The Iraqi Interior Minister, [[Jawad al-Bulani]], also defended the device, telling [[Al Iraqiya]] television that the ADE 651 had "managed to prevent and detect more than 16,000 bombs that would be a threat to people's life and more than 733 car bombs were defused." He said: "Iraq is considered as a market area for many companies producing such devices ... and there are other rival companies trying to belittle the efficiency of these instruments the government is buying".<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=UK halts exports of machines marketed as bomb detection device for Iraq and Afghanistan|url=http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9DDEMD00|agency=The Associated Press|date=23 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-23}}</ref>
In [[Mexico]] the Government of [[Colima]] bought one of these devices, paying more than $60,000.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gobierno del Estado cuenta ya con equipo para detectar armas, drogas y explosivos: Silverio Cavazos|url=http://www.registrocivil.col.gob.mx/noticia.php?ib=29240|work=Gobierno del Estado de Colima|last=Staff|date=12 September 2009|accessdate=2010-02-21}}</ref> Also, as can be seen in the photography accompanying an article about [[GT200]] published in newspaper La-Ch.com, where can be seen a Mexican soldier using an ADE 651. It is possible that the [[Secretariat of National Defense]] (SEDENA) also bought some units.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ejército combate al narco con tecnología de punta ¿inservible?|url=http://la-ch.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3241:ejercito-combate-al-narco-con-tecnologia-de-punta-iinservible&catid=42:general&Itemid=62|work=La-Ch.com|last=Fausto Ovalle|date=17 February 2009|accessdate=2010-02-25}}</ref>
According to a promotional website for the ADE 651, the device is also used by the [[Lebanese Army]], the [[People's Armed Police|Chinese Police]], the [[Royal Thai Police]] and the Interior Ministry of the [[Kurdistan Regional Government]] in [[Iraqi Kurdistan]]. The website claims that the [[Jordan]]ian government requires hotels to employ ADE 651 devices to scan vehicles entering underground car parks.<ref>{{cite web|title=ADE651 – Effectiveness|publisher=ATSC Ltd|url=http://www.ade651.com/efectividadin.html|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5mzH3TCgz|archivedate=22 January 2010}}</ref> ATSC's Jim McCormick says that 20 countries have acquired the device, with purchasers including "the Saudis, Indian police, a Belgian drug squad, a Hong Kong correctional facility and the Chittagong navy."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent">{{cite news|first1=Simon|last1=de Bruxelles|first2=Oliver|last2=August|title=Iraqis spent $80m on ADE651 bomb detectors described as useless|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6935574.ece|newspaper=The Times|date=28 November 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22 | location=London}}</ref> The police in the [[Belgium|Belgian]] municipal region of [[Geel]]-[[Laakdal]]-[[Meerhout]] use the device to detect drugs.<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Dure bomdetector blijkt compleet nutteloos|url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=BR2LA9VU|newspaper=Het Nieuwsblad|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24}}</ref> [[Pakistan]]'s Airport Security Force also uses the ADE 651 as a bomb detector at the [[Jinnah International Airport]] in [[Karachi]].<ref name="Dawn-Lives at">{{cite news|last=Abdullah|first=Hasan|title=Lives at airport threatened by bogus bomb detectors |url=http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/13+lives-at-airport-threatened-by-bogus-bomb-detectors-610-za-08|date=26 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100129214346/http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/13+lives-at-airport-threatened-by-bogus-bomb-detectors-610-za-08| archivedate= 29 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
==Effectiveness==
The use of the ADE 651 has prompted strong criticism and eventually led to a ban on the device's export from the UK to Iraq and Afghanistan and a criminal investigation of its manufacturer. The Iraqi security forces' reliance on the device was highlighted by a ''[[New York Times]]'' investigation in November 2009, which reported that United States military and technical experts believed the device was useless. [[US Army]] Major-General [[Richard Rowe (U.S. Army General)|Richard Rowe]] told the newspaper that "there's [no] magic wand that can detect explosives. If there was, we would all be using it. I have no confidence that these work." [[Sandia National Laboratories]] had carried out testing of several similar devices but found that "none have ever performed better than random chance." Retired [[US Air Force]] Colonel [[Hal Bidlack]], a former national security aide in the Clinton and Bush administrations, condemned the device as "laughable, except someone down the street from you is counting on this to keep bombs off the streets." An Iraqi guard and driver for the ''New York Times'', both of whom were licensed to carry firearms, were able to drive two [[AK-47]] rifles and ammunition through nine police checkpoints that were using the device without any of them detecting the weapons.<ref name="nyt4nov09" />
Iraqi civilians have complained that the device seems to have "an unerring attraction to shampoo and soapsuds". According to Iraqi police officer Jasim Hussein, "The vast majority of the people we stop, it's because of their perfume". A fellow officer, Hasan Ouda, commented that "Most people now understand it's what gets them searched, so they don't use as much." Jim McCormick of ATSC falsely claimed that the apparent responsiveness of the ADE 651 was due to fragrances containing traces of the explosive substance [[RDX]].<ref>{{cite news|first1=Jack|last1=Dolan|first2=Sahar|last2=Issa|title=Iraqi's sweet sorrow: Bomb sniffers detect his perfume|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/06/24/70635/iraqis-sweet-sorrow-bomb-sniffers.html|publisher=McClatchy Newspapers|date=24 June 2009|accessdate=2010-01-22}}</ref>
[[File:RANDI.jpg|thumb|right|In October 2008 [[James Randi]] offered a reward of [[One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge|one million dollars]] to anyone who could prove that the ADE 651 was effective.]]
The veteran Canadian-American magician and sceptic [[James Randi]] has publicly offered [[One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge|one million dollars]] to anyone who can prove the device's effectiveness as far back as October 2008.<ref>{{cite news|first1=James|last1=Randi|title=A Direct, Specific, Challenge From James Randi and the JREF|url=http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100123010157/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/231-a-direct-specific-challenge-from-james-randi-and-the-jref.html| archivedate= 23 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> Randi issued a statement calling the ADE 651 "a useless quack device which cannot perform any other function than separating naive persons from their money. It's a fake, a scam, a swindle, and a blatant fraud. Prove me wrong and take the million dollars."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" /> According to Randi, nobody from ATSC has responded.<ref name="nyt4nov09" />
The German news magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' reported that the ADE-651 had been tested around 2008 in Israel but was "kicked out of the country". An Israeli explosives expert told the magazine: "The thing has absolutely nothing to do with the detection of explosives." When it was displayed at an arms and security fair in Beirut in April 2009, a visiting explosives expert described it as "one big fraud". Gadi Aviran, the head of the Israeli security firm Terrorgence, said: "If someone comes to an expert, claiming that he had developed a device that can detect the smell of explosives from several meters away, the expert must know that this is physically not possible."<ref>{{cite news|last=Putz|first=Ulrike|title=Dunkle Geschäfte mit dem Sprengstoffschnüffler|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,673669,00.html|newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=24 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127202042/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,673669,00.html| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The [[FBI]] has repeatedly issued alerts about dowsing rod devices being used as explosive detectors. It described one such device, the [[Quadro Tracker]], as "a fraud" and told all agencies to immediately cease using it. Another alert issued in 1999 told agencies: "Warning. Do not use bogus explosives detection devices."<ref name="BBC-Export ban" /> A US Army test of a similar device found that it was unable to detect a truck carrying a tonne of [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] when it drove up behind the operator.<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" /> In June 2009, the US Army carried out a laboratory test including X-ray analysis on the ADE 651 that found it to be ineffective. According to Major Joe Scrocca, "The examination resulted in a determination that there was no possible means by which the ADE 651 could detect explosives and therefore was determined to be totally ineffective and fraudulent. As a result of that study, the U.S. military notified all military and civilian personnel in Iraq that the bomb detection device is ineffective and should not be relied upon as a means of ensuring the safety of any personnel."<ref>{{cite news|last=Kirka|first=Danica|title=UK halts exports of machines marketed as bomb detection device for Iraq and Afghanistan|url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOQguoYUK3eozkL1OVGGbWGJM0_w|date=23 January 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127035407/http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jOQguoYUK3eozkL1OVGGbWGJM0_w| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The BBC's [[Newsnight]] programme investigated the ADE 651 in a report broadcast in January 2010, asking the [[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory]] to assess one of the "programmed substance detection cards" used in the device to detect TNT. The laboratory found that the card contained only a standard [[Electronic article surveillance#Radio-frequency systems|radio frequency security tag]] of the type used in stores to prevent shoplifting. According to the laboratory's Dr. [[Markus Kuhn (computer scientist)|Markus Kuhn]], it was "impossible" for the card to detect anything and it had "absolutely nothing to do with the detection of TNT". The card could not be programmed, had no memory, no microprocessor and no form of information could be stored on it. Despite the high cost of the devices, the cards were worth only about two to three pence (3–5¢) each. Kuhn commented: "These are the cheapest bit of electronics that you can get that look vaguely electronic and are sufficiently flat to fit inside a card." The "card reader" was found to be an empty plastic box. Psychology professor [[Bruce Hood (psychologist)|Bruce Hood]] has noted that the swinging of the antenna is merely due to its loose assembly and unconscious wrist movements by the user. Explosives expert [[Sidney Alford]] described the device as "immoral", telling Newsnight that "it could result in people being killed in the dozens, if not hundreds". Newsnight noted that thousands of people had indeed been killed and injured in devastating [[car bomb]] attacks in [[Baghdad]] such as the [[25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings|25 October]] and [[8 December 2009 Baghdad bombings]], without the bombers being detected by the ADE 651 devices.<ref name="BBC-Export ban" />
Jim McCormick refused to be interviewed for the Newsnight investigation, but told ''The New York Times'' that ATSC would remain in business: "Our company is still fully operational."<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> He told ''The Times'' that ATSC had been dealing with doubters for ten years and that the device was merely being criticised because of its "primitive" appearance. He said: "We are working on a new model that has flashing lights."<ref name="Times-Head of ATSC" />
==Investigations and export ban==
===United Kingdom===
In January 2010, ATSC's James McCormick was arrested on suspicion of fraud. The investigation was personally ordered by [[Colin Port]], the [[Chief Constable]] of the [[Avon and Somerset Constabulary]]. On 11 July 2012, McCormick was charged on three counts that between January 15, 2007, and July 12, 2012, he had in his possession or control an article for use in the course of or in connection with fraud contrary to Section 6 of the [[Fraud Act 2006]]; and three further charges that between the same dates he made or adapted, supplied or offered to supply an article knowing it was designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with, or intending it to be used to commit, or to assist in a fraud, contrary to Section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Bomb-detector-kit-boss-court-face-fraud-charges/story-16522530-detail/story.html|title=Bomb detector kit boss in court to face six fraud charges|work=Western Daily Press|last=Rowe|first=Tina|date=12 July 2012|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
Following the 2010 BBC Newsnight exposé of the device, the UK Government's [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]] announced that the BBC tests had shown that "the technology used in the ADE 651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection" and they "could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces in Iraq and Afghanistan". It had therefore decided to ban the export of the ADE 651 and similar devices to those two countries under the [[Export Control Act 2002]], with effect from 27 January 2010. The device had not previously been subject to export restrictions as it was non-military equipment. {{Citation needed span|text=The department offered "cooperation with any investigation [the Iraqi authorities] may wish to make into how the device came to be bought for their military as bomb detection equipment."|date=April 2013}} The banning order prohibited the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of "‘electro-statically powered’ equipment for detecting 'explosives'".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Export Control (Amendment) Order 2010. Statutory Instrument 2010 No. 121.|url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20100121_en_1|date=27 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-28|publisher=Office of Public Sector Information}}</ref>
James McCormick was tried in March-April 2013 at the Old Bailey in London. The court was told that "the devices did not work and he knew they did not work. He had them manufactured so that they could be sold – and despite the fact they did not work, people bought them for a handsome but unwarranted profit." McCormick had falsely represented himself as a member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, using the organisation's logo without permission.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Bomb-detector-sales-scam-denied-Somerset/story-18354393-detail/story.html|title=Bomb detector sales scam denied by Somerset businessman James McCormick|last=Raif|first=Shenai|date=8 March 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> McCormick said that he had sold the ADE 651 and similar devices to security forces internationally but none had complained about them.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/25/bomb-detectors-fraud-court?INTCMP=SRCH|title=No complaints over bomb detectors, fraud accused tells court|last=Morris|first=Stephen|date=25 March 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
On 23 April 2013, McCormick was convicted on three counts of fraud.<ref name="BBC-Guilty">{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051|title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref> The chief investigating officer in the case, Detective Superintendent Nigel Rock, said:
{{quote|There was no evidence demonstrated, that McCormick or his company - ATSC UK - conducted any proper research or development into the products manufactured; in fact he refused to submit the ADE devices to independent tests. He sold his detection devices to many governments, defence agencies and private institutions around the world. A large proportion of these were countries where there was and still remains a real risk of terrorism and criminality. Iraq was one country which between 2008-2010 bought 6,000 devices at a cost in excess of $40 million.
The devices were used at numerous checkpoints within Iraq during this period. It is clear that both civilians and armed forces personnel were put at significant risk in relying upon this equipment. McCormick showed a complete disregard for the safety of those that used and relied upon the device for their own security and protection. He amassed many millions of pounds through his greed and criminal enterprise.<ref>{{cite web|title=Somerset explosives detector man found guilty after three year police investigation (Old Bailey)|url=http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/LocalPages/NewsDetails.aspx?nsid=27307&t=1&lid=3|publisher=Avon and Somerset Police|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>}}
It was disclosed that McCormick had made millions of pounds from sales of the ADE 651, with which he had bought a farmhouse in Somerset, [[Nicolas Cage]]'s former £3.5 million house in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] with its own basement swimming pool, holiday homes in [[Cyprus]] and [[Florida]], a £600,000 luxury yacht, and three horses for one of his daughters.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> The police declared that they would seek to "pursue his wealth" using the [[Proceeds of Crime Act 2002]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22271538|title=Police on James McCormick: 'We will now pursue his wealth'|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===Iraq===
[[File:Nouri al-Maliki with Bush, June 2006, cropped.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nouri al-Maliki]], the [[Prime Minister of Iraq]].]]
The failure of the ADE 651 to prevent a series of bombings in Baghdad and the circumstances of its procurement raised concerns in Iraq even before it became the subject of media exposés. The ''New York Times'' reported in November 2009 that Aqeel al-Turaihi, the Iraqi Interior Ministry's inspector-general, had begun an investigation into the contracts that the ministry had signed with ATSC.<ref name="nyt4nov09" /> The [[Prime Minister of Iraq]], [[Nouri al-Maliki]], also ordered an investigation into the effectiveness of the devices following a number of bomb attacks.<ref name="BBC-Export ban" /> The Iraqi parliament did not order an official investigation but Iraqi MP Nadeem al-Jabiri said: "the security and defence committee in the parliament, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, is following up this matter as part of the parliament's duty as a monitoring entity."<ref name="Times-Iraqis spent" />
The BBC's revelations in January 2010 caused outrage in Iraq. A police officer told ''The New York Times'': "Our government is to be blamed for all the thousands of innocent spirits who were lost since these devices have been used in Iraq." MP Ammar Tuma of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee said: "This company not only caused grave and massive losses of funds, but it has caused grave and massive losses of the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians, by the hundreds and thousands, from attacks that we thought we were immune to because we have this device."<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> He told the ''[[Asharq Al-Awsat]]'' newspaper: "The tasks of the committee are limited to two tracks, [and that is] reaching the truth over what happened with regards to the signing of the contracts for these bomb detection devices; firstly by following up on the details of the contract and looking at the background of this, as well as the possibility of collusion by those who signed this contract, or whether this [ineffectiveness] is the result of technical weaknesses in these devices. Either of these [options] deserves accountability." He said that Defence Minister Abd al-Qadr Muhammed Jassim al-Obaidi had informed the Iraqi Parliament during emergency parliamentary hearings in 2009 that "the detection of car bombs and explosive material using these devices is very limited, and this increases the likelihood that these devices have low efficiency."<ref>{{cite news|last=Al-Ily|first=Nasser|title=Iraq to Investigate Purchase of Defective Bomb Detectors|url=http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=19642|newspaper=[[Asharq Al-Awsat]]|date=25 January 2010 |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref>
Another MP, Hussain al-Falluji, demanded that Iraqi security forces should immediately cease using the ADE 651. His proposal to establish an investigative committee and seek to recover the money spent on the devices was supported by other parliamentarians.<ref name="Reuters-Iraq MPs">{{cite news|first=Muhanad|last=Mohammed|title=Iraq MPs demand bomb detector be axed after UK ban|url=http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE60M1J620100123?sp=true|agency=Reuters|date=23 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-23}}</ref> Hadi Al-Ameri, the head of the Parliament's Security and Defense Committee, said that he would push for an official investigation to "find out how this piece of equipment was sold to Iraq." If it was determined that ATSC was responsible he planned to "seek compensation via the ministry of foreign affairs."<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=‘Magic wand’ bomb detector still rules Baghdad checkpoints |url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2010/January/middleeast_January508.xml| agency=AFP |date=24 January 2010 |accessdate=2010-01-24}}</ref> MP Haneen Kado said: "If we rely on these devices there is no point in having checkpoints. It makes the whole of Baghdad open to terrorist attacks. We are in a dangerous situation and there could be new bombings at any time. We must investigate exactly who bought and sold these detectors and see that they answer in court."<ref name="National-Purchase of">{{cite news|last=Latif|first=Nizar|title=Purchase of 'useless' Iraq bomb detectors 'was corrupt'|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/FOREIGN/701309904/1002|date=30 January 2010|work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]]| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100207004418/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/FOREIGN/701309904/1002| archivedate= 7 February 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
The Supreme Board of Audit in Iraq announced an investigation into the procurement of the ADE 651, focusing on the officials who had previously given assurances of the device's technical soundness.<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> The Iraqi Army's Baghdad Operations Command, which had previously procured 100 of the devices, distanced itself from their use. Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said: "The devices have helped us in parts of our work but in some aspects they are not useful. Their performance does not match our aspirations. There is some percent of error in their performance and these devices must be updated."<ref name="Reuters-Iraq MPs" /> Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was reported to have ordered a new investigation of how the devices had been procured, looking into whether there was any corruption involved.<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraq's PM orders probe on bomb detectors|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010876627_apmliraqbombdevice.html?syndication=rss|last=Staff|agency=The Associated Press|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24 | work=The Seattle Times}}</ref>
According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry's inspector-general Aqil al-Turehi, he had investigated the device in 2008 but found it "inoperative" and costly and recommended that Iraq should not buy it. He told Reuters: "There was corruption associated with this contract and we referred to this and submitted our report to the Minister of the Interior. We said that the company which you made a contract with is not well-regarded internationally in the field of explosives detectors, and the price is very high and not commensurate with the abilities of this device."<ref name="Reuters-Iraq official">{{cite news|last=Christie|first=Michael|title=Iraq Official Warned Against Anti-Bomb Device Buy|url=http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/24/world/international-uk-iraq-britain-explosives.html|agency=Reuters|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-24 | work=The New York Times}}</ref> Al-Turehi said that the buying process had been "marred by suspicions over the equipment and the efficiency and value of the contracts. There were senior officials involved in these transactions."<ref name="National-Purchase of" /> The initial investigation found that it could detect some bombs and the ministry went ahead with the contract despite al-Turehi's concerns.<ref name="Reuters-Iraq official" /> An unnamed Iraqi officer told the [[Agence France-Presse]] that "We know it doesn't work and that it has been banned [in Britain], but we are continuing to use it. It is bullshit. But still we are lying about it."<ref name="Guardian-Magic" />
Despite the controversy, the device is still being used at checkpoints across Iraq. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has defended the continued use of the ADE-651. In 2010, the then head of the ministry's counter-explosives unit, General Jihad al-Jabiri, told the BBC that his organisation had "conducted several tests on them, and found them successful. In addition, we have a series of achievements officially documented by the Baghdad operations centre, from all the provinces, which establish that these devices detected thousands of bombs, booby-trapped houses and car bombs, and we've noticed a reduction of bombing activities to less than 10 per cent of what it was." A senior ministry official, Assistant Deputy Minister General Tareq al-Asl, told ''Asharq Al-Awsat'': "The reason the director of the company was arrested was not because the device doesn't work, but because he refused to divulge the secret of how it works to the British authorities, and the Americans before them. I have tested it in practice and it works effectively and 100% reliably."<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraqi Interior ministry still backing 'bomb detector' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8477601.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=24 January 2010 | archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100127203242/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8477601.stm| archivedate= 27 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref>
In February 2011, General al-Jabiri was arrested on corruption charges, centring on the ADE 651 device purchase.<ref>{{cite news |last=al-Salhy |first=Suadad |title=Iraq police official charged in bomb device scandal |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/113747/20110217/iraq-police-official-charged-in-bomb-device-scandal.htm |publisher=International Business Times |date=17 February 2011 |accessdate=19 February 2011}}</ref> He was subsequently convicted of taking millions of dollars of bribes from McCormick and was imprisoned along with two other Iraqi officials.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> Up to 15 Iraqis are said to have been on McCormick's payroll, receiving money through a bank in [[Beirut]].<ref name="BBC-Fake" />
Aqil al-Turehi said that he "feel[s] furious when I think that this gang of Jim McCormick and the Iraqis working with him killed my people by creating false security and selling such a useless device". In one incident, a vehicle carrying rockets and missiles travelled undetected through 23 Baghdad checkpoints equipped with the ADE 651.<ref name="Guardian-Magic" /> The false sense of security provided by the device had catastrophic effects for many Iraqi people, hundreds of whom were killed in bombings that the ADE 651 failed to prevent. The victim of one such bombing, 21-year-old Haneen Alwan, told the BBC that her life had been destroyed after she was caught in a bomb attack which caused massive injuries that killed her unborn child and prompted her husband to divorce her because of her extensive burns, which have so far required her to undergo 59 operations. She said: "When people passed through checkpoints using these devices, they thought they would be safe. But they are useless. The man who sold them has no conscience. He is morally bankrupt. How could he sell them just for money and destroy other people's lives?"<ref name="BBC-Fake">{{cite news|last1=Hawley|first1=Caroline|last2=Jones|first2=Meirion|title=Fake bomb detectors 'destroyed lives'|publisher=BBC News|date=23 April 2013}}</ref>
===Pakistan===
After the ADE 651 became the focus of controversy for its role in Iraq, concerns were raised in Pakistan about its employment as a bomb detector by the Pakistani security forces. A senior official at Jinnah International Airport denied that it was using the ADE 651, claiming that the Airport Security Force had designed the device in use there, but other ASF officials acknowledged that their device "operated on the same principle as ADE-651." Pakistani scientists rejected the scientific basis on which the device was claimed to work; Professor Shahid Zaidi of Karachi University told the Pakistani newspaper ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]'' that "there has to be an electric, magnetic or electromagnetic field for a device to work in such a manner. Furthermore static fields don’t move around the way it is being claimed by some. Also don’t forget that there are so many radio waves of different frequencies all around us. I just don’t see how this device would work." ''Dawn'' challenged the ASF to test the device to confirm its effectiveness but the ASF refused, insisting that the device works.<ref name="Dawn-Lives at" />
===Belgium===
The Belgian police bought an ADE 651 in 2008 for £12,800 to detect drugs, as a supposedly cheaper alternative to a dog. According to Superintendent Theiry Meunier, it was soon apparent that it was ineffective: "We had no results from it. We tried to use the device for detecting drugs in cars for several months. We also provided the detector to detectives seeking to detect drugs. The results again were negative."<ref name="ES-Tycoon">{{cite news|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tycoon-faces-jail-for-50m-bomb-detector-swindle-that-cost-lives-8584749.html|title=Tycoon faces jail for £50m bomb detector swindle that ‘cost lives’|last=Cheston|first=Paul|work=Evening Standard|location=London|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===United Nations===
The [[United Nations]] force in Lebanon ([[UNIFIL]]) bought five ADE 651s at a cost of £46,000 to detect explosives in vehicles. ATSC offered the UN a further 80 of the devices, but declined to provide evidence that the ADE 651 could do what was claimed and suggested that the UN should carry out its own tests. The UN did so over the course of two days but found that the device was "not fit for purpose".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/paid-46-000-unfit-bomb-detectors-court-told/story-18482857-detail/story.html|title=UN paid £46,000 for unfit bomb detectors, court told|work=Western Daily Press|date=21 March 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref>
===Other countries===
The ADE 651 was also sold to customers in [[Bahrain]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Kenya]], [[Niger]], [[Qatar]], [[Romania]], [[Tunisia]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Syria]], the [[United Arab Emirates]] and [[Vietnam]].<ref name="Miror-Conman">{{cite news|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jim-mccormick-conman-sold-fake-1850330|title=Jim McCormick: Conman sold golf ball finders as bomb detectors in 'diabolical' £60m scam which put lives at risk|last=Smith|first=Richard|work=Daily Mirror|date=21 March 2013|accessdate=24 April 2013}}</ref> The Mövenpick Hotel in Bahrain bought one to detect car bombs but, according to the hotel's head of security, it could not even detect a firework: "It wasn’t working. It wasn’t working at all."<ref name="ES-Tycoon" />
==Other similar devices==
{{main|GT200|Quadro Tracker|Sniffex}}
Another "remote substance detector" device, the Global Technical [[GT200]], has come under scrutiny in Thailand in the wake of the controversy over the ADE 651. The ''Bangkok Post'' reports that the GT200 is virtually identical to the ADE 651 and has been described by critics as a "divining rod" which uses "controller cards", like the ADE 651, to find explosives. The ''Post'' attributes the death of several Royal Thai Police officers to its repeated failures to detect explosives.<ref name="BP-UK bans" />
The [[Quadro Tracker]], also known as the Positive Molecular Locator, was a similar device sold by Quadro Corp. of Harleyville, South Carolina between 1993 and 1996.
Several other similar [[long range locator]] devices are being marketed in various countries, including the [[HEDD1]] (formerly known as [[Sniffex]] Plus), marketed by Unival in Germany; [[Alpha 6]], marketed by ComsTrac in the UK; [[PSD-22]]; and [[H3Tec]].
An apparent recycling of the Quadro Tracker turned up as the DKLabs Lifeguard, which had a similar appearance and made ambitious claims about being able to locate survivors missing under rubble or hiding in shipping containers. It has been proven to be useless in tests by Sandia National Labs.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/1998/980977.pdf | title=Double-Blind Evaluation of the DKL LifeGuard Model 2 | accessdate=2011-01-27 | first1=Dale | last1=Murray | first2=Floyd | last2=Spencer | first3=Debra | last3=Spencer | date=May 1998 | publisher=Sandia Laboratories | volume=SAND98-0977 | series=Sandia Report }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==External links==
*[http://www.ade651.co.uk/ ADE 651 product website]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMP5dBSa2c ADE 651 training video]
*[http://www.atscltd.com/ ATSC corporate website]
*"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leSD9Xth-MQ UK halts 'bomb detector' exports]". Al Jazeera English, 23 January 2010.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTmqfGJhTI James Randi on the ADE 651]. YouTube, 23 January 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ade 651}}
[[Category:Law enforcement in Iraq]]
[[Category:Explosives detection]]
[[Category:Law enforcement equipment]]
[[Category:Consumer fraud]]' |
Unified diff of changes made by edit (edit_diff ) | '@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq.jpg|image2=US Navy 081016-N-1810F-303 Checkpoint in Abu T'Shir, Iraq-crop.jpg|width=300|caption2=An Iraqi soldier at a checkpoint using an ADE 651 or similar device}}
The '''ADE 651''' is a fake bomb detector<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051 |title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=2013-04-23 |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> produced by ATSC (UK), which claimed that device could effectively and accurately, from [[Long range locator|long range]], detect the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as $60,000 per unit. The Iraqi government is said to have spent £52m ($85m) on the devices.<ref name="NYT-British Man" /> Investigations by the [[BBC]] and other organisations found that the device is little more than a "glorified [[dowsing rod]]" with no ability to perform its claimed functions. In January 2010, export of the device to Iraq and Afghanistan was banned by the [[Her Majesty's Government|British Government]] and the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud,<ref name="Independent-Head of" /> and in June 2010 several other companies were raided by British police.<ref name="BBC-June 2010 raids">{{cite news |first1=Caroline |last1=Hawley |title=Police raids expand bomb detector probe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm|publisher=BBC News|date=8 June 2010| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20100610043844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10269170.stm| archivedate= 10 June 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref> ATSC was dissolved on 5 March 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.duedil.com/company/03407495/atsc-uk-limited |title=Atsc UK Limited in Somerset - Company Information |publisher=Duedil.com |date= |accessdate=2013-04-25}}</ref> On 23 April 2013, the businessman behind the device, James McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud at the [[Old Bailey]] in London.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051|title=James McCormick guilty of selling fake bomb detectors|date=23 April 2013|accessdate=23 April 2013}}</ref>
+One word:FUCK THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THEY ARE A GROUP OF TERRORISTS!!!!!
+
The use of the device by Iraqi and Pakistani security forces has become a major international controversy. The virtually identical [[GT200]] and [[Alpha 6]] devices, which are widely used in [[Thailand]], have also come under scrutiny in the wake of the revelations about the ADE 651.<ref name="BP-UK bans">{{cite news|title=UK bans bomb detectors|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/166305/uk-bans-bomb-detectors|newspaper=[[Bangkok Post]]|date=24 January 2010|accessdate=2010-01-26}}</ref>
==Description and background==
' |
New page size (new_size ) | 49094 |
Old page size (old_size ) | 49014 |
Size change in edit (edit_delta ) | 80 |
Lines added in edit (added_lines ) | [
0 => 'One word:FUCK THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THEY ARE A GROUP OF TERRORISTS!!!!!',
1 => false
] |
Lines removed in edit (removed_lines ) | [] |
Whether or not the change was made through a Tor exit node (tor_exit_node ) | 0 |
Unix timestamp of change (timestamp ) | 1366993314 |