Thursday, May 2, 2013

That figures.....staged bombing, fake bomb detector and crisis actors faking as severed limbs bomb victims

20130212 (drafted) 
20130502 (updated)

Why People Believed Fake Bomb Detectors Worked

// 


A man who sold bogus bomb detectors likened to dowsing rods in Iraq and elsewhere has been convicted of fraud in a British court. According to a piece in the New York Times:
A British businessman who sold the Iraqi security forces more than 6,000 fake bomb detectors based on $20 golf ball finders bought from the United States was convicted of fraud on Tuesday in Britain’s central criminal court. The businessman, James McCormick, 56, was described in court as having made more than $75 million from sales of the fake device in Iraq and Georgia, among other places, claiming they could detect bombs, drugs, currency and ivory, and track objects up to 3,280 feet below ground.
The devices were not faulty nor defective; they were completely useless. They had no working electronics in them that could detect bombs or anything else. The device has only one moving part, an antenna-like piece of metal that freely swivels, supposedly detecting explosive and other materials. McCormick sold the devices for up to $40,000 each. At least 800 of the detectors were purchased by the Iraqi government and used at checkpoints throughout the country, as well as in Mexico, Syria, Lebanon and Niger. McCormick faces up to eight years in prison.


Millionaire businessman faces jail over selling fake bomb detectors to UN



A millionaire businessman is facing jail today after being convicted of selling fake bomb detectors.
James McCormick, 56, was found guilty at the Old Bailey last week of three counts of fraud after jurors heard the devices did not work.
McCormick, of Langport, Somerset, made an estimated £50 million from sales of his three models to Iraq, Belgium and even the United Nations for use in Lebanon.
But, the court heard, the Advanced Selection Equipment devices had no scientific basis and were based on a £13 American novelty golf ball finder.
Police believe lives were put at risk as the hand-held devices were used at check-points to detect explosives.
Some of the detectors were sold for £27,000 each and McCormick is thought to have made about £37 million from sales to Iraq alone.
There is no evidence that he tried to sell to the Ministry of Defence, but an MoD inspector watched a demonstration organised by an Essex policeman.


Fake bomb detector seller James McCormick jailed

James McCormick James McCormick was found guilty of fraud last month

Related Stories

Fraudster James McCormick has been jailed for 10 years for selling fake bomb detectors.
McCormick, 57, of Langport, Somerset perpetrated a "callous confidence trick", said the Old Bailey judge.
He is thought to have made £50m from sales of the fake devices to countries including Iraq.
The fraud "promoted a false sense of security" and contributed to death and injury, the judge said. He also described the profit as "outrageous".
Police earlier said the ADE-651 devices, modelled on a novelty golf ball finder, are still in use at some checkpoints.
Sentencing McCormick, Judge Richard Hone said: "You are the driving force and sole director behind [the fraud]."
He added: "The device was useless, the profit outrageous, and your culpability as a fraudster has to be considered to be of the highest order."
One invoice showed sales of £38m over three years to Iraq, the judge said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22380368


Officials from 13 govt agencies investigated over procurement

The GT200 "bomb detector" is back under the media spotlight after a British court found wealthy businessman Jim McCormick guilty of three charges of multimillion-pound fraud in relation to three types of fake bomb detectors he sold to state security agencies across the world - including Thailand.

The McCormick trial, which will conclude today, has stirred emotions around the globe because the 57-year-old businessman put thousands of lives in danger including those of people in Niger, Syria, Mexico, Iraq, Kenya, at the Hong Kong prison service, in the Egyptian army, Saudi Arabia and the United Nations, which bought useless bomb detectors from his firms.

In Thailand, the fascination with the GT200 by state security agencies started in 2004 when the Thai Air Force used the device to "detect" suspected items at Bor Thong Airport in Pattani.

The GT200 made its "debut" when all military forces met to showcase their warfare capabilities not long after the airport check.

The Army, which was assigned to dispose of bombs in the three southern border provinces when the insurgency initially gripped the deep south, was in dire need of bomb detectors that could detect explosives from a far range. After learning that the Air Force's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit possessed the GT200 detector, initially known as "The Mo", the Army tested the device and bought 541 GT200s in 2008-09 - the largest lot ever bought by Thai security agencies.

Calls for checks on the efficiency of the GT200 started in social networks like pantip.com. Blogger Geneticist from Wah Ko blog room inspired academics to team up and call for an investigation into the bomb detector.

On February 2, 2010, the Abhisit Cabinet appointed a committee to test the efficiency of the GT200. It revealed that out of 20 times, the device correctly detected a C4 bomb four times.

The Department of Special Investigation has looked into the scandal, summoning more than 90 witnesses from 13 Thai agencies that bought the GT200 bomb detector and Alpha 6 narcotics detector. The agency is likely to press charges against Jackson Electronics (Thailand) Co Ltd and ASLM Trading Co Ltd, two trading companies that represented McCormick's company.

The DSI also found that some officials from the 13 state agencies could be held accountable for procurement of the devices.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) last July accepted the GT200 case filed by the DSI and appointed a panel to probe the irregularities.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Focus-on-purchases-after-UK-ruling-30205218.html

Has the Post-Disaster Recovery Program become a profitable scam? – Part IIIc of Root Causes



As we have seen in many cases, disasters can be highly profitable for those who know in advance or “privileged few in the know” (PFitK). This is very clear from the pattern of massive selling by BP’s directors and Goldman Sachs before the advent of an impending disaster. See A pattern of massive shares sell-off by BP directors prior to expected disasters.
Though hard to believe, there are many who would profit without hesitation upon the miseries of others. A mega-disaster like the BP’s Oil Spill is one of those. Sometimes it is hard to say if a prescribed cure is supposed to make you feel better or improve the bottom line of the one prescribing it. Time will always tell, as it is revealing in the case of the BP Gulf Oil disaster.
Just as it would be highly improper for surgeons to mislead on the medical procedures, BP the “doctor” should lose its “medical license” and be held criminally liable for deliberate misleading information on so many occasions. Six months later, NOAA and the Presidential Investigative Panel should have been able to evaluate not only the effectiveness of the medicine prescribed but also the manner it was administered. If these regulatory bodies are still sleeping on their job after six months, then either delinquency or corruption has already set in.
By most accounts BP, NOAA and all the regulatory bodies fared poorly in this disaster. Later postings will delve into the technological and geological aspects. In this posting, we will concentrate on the question whether the post-disaster recovery program had become a profitable scam. It goes without saying that BP as an organization would suffer hefty financial losses not monetary gains. That would make it all the more; much “safer” for the privileged few to profit personally. Evidence of profit motives in the post-disaster recovery efforts would substantiate earlier suspicions that this disaster had been allowed to happen.
It is an undeniable fact that corners are cut everyday across the globe in almost every sector of human societies. Of all the industries, the offshore oil industry is the most regulated with the most stringent HSE policies. Hence it is logically impossible for a potential mega disaster to sail through the elaborate screening “Check & Balance” process. Unlike wildcat drillings in the pre-seventies, every location to be drilled had to be evaluated with respect to exploration and production objectives, shallow geohazards, seabed and logistics problems. That is why few mega-disasters occurred even though near-misses and accidents do occur on a daily basis. By all accounts, this disaster could have been averted. Yet it was allowed to happen. Why?

http://bklim.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/09/5438040-has-the-post-disaster-recovery-program-become-a-profitable-scam-part-iiic-of-root-causes

No comments:

Post a Comment