Liquid Explosives: India Lacks Technology to Detect and Deter

By Animesh Roul

Al-Qaeda and affiliates have plotted and made use of Liquid Explosives (LE) since long. Ramzi Yousef had the design and intention to use LEs in mid 1990s and we have witnessed the actual and lethal use in July 2005 London subway bombings. Also we have experienced the transatlantic aircraft plot scare in 2006 which caused widespread air travel disruption and chaos and triggered unprecedented security measures at airports.

Terrorists often employ liquid chemicals such as trinitrophenol (picric acid), triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and nitroglycerin with other powder explosive mixtures to make it a dangerous cocktail. Among all, peroxide-based explosives, such as TATP, are said to be colorless and difficult to identify. All technical information, from chemical properties to how to make explosive device is accessible on jihadi web forums and websites and also through legitimate scientific sites. More alarming is that The Terrorist's Handbook is still available through one weird blogger.

Not surprisingly the technique and material reached Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India, replacing military explosives (e.g. RDX) earlier used by terrorists in large scale. This has been a major concern for security forces and intelligence agencies because LE is difficult to trace or detect. The chief of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the largest paramilitary force in India, fighting Islamic terrorists, Left wing extremist and hordes of separatist outfits in India, admitted recently that the Force lacked the technology or equipments to detect and preempt the widespread use of this brand of explosives. According to him, liquid explosives are increasingly used in Kashmir in recent months. In J&K terrorists (Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish e Muhammad and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen) have used locally available picric acid in most and elsewhere, as in Malegaon and Mecca Masjid blasts.

However, more than anything else, the fear is LE could make its way to passenger airlines. One report has described the difficulties in detecting these substances “due to the wide variety of packaging used especially by air travelers, in which these explosives can be readily concealed.” Even though there came some support from Israeli firm Acro Inc for India which develops explosive detection solutions like ACRO-PET, a handy peroxide explosive tester), Indian authority is still looking for similar but comprehensive detective system to thwart effectively any terrorists plan against its vulnerable aviation sector. A recently published scientific paper in Analytical Chemistry, "Non-invasive Detection of Concealed Liquid Explosives using Raman Spectroscopy," by Charlotte Eliasson, et al may help in this regard. However, Indian agencies should make every effort to devolve or bring these available technology and tools, (like China and Japan and some other countries in Europe who have deployed Anti LEs countermeasures in airports) and deploy at vulnerable targets such as airports, before it’s too late.

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