Claymore explosive kit was a dud; no explosives
Last week, among the stolen and illegal items raked in during a sweep of hot zones in the City, was a high powered weapon, known to be used mainly by the US Military. The list included everything from power saws, fake parcels of cocaine, hand guns, homemade guns and even an M18-A1 Anti personnel mine. That particular entry was alarming as it seemed that a new explosive device was available to criminals. So during our follow up on the story today News Five spoke to B.D.F.’s Demolition Expert and Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel David Jones. Jones said there was one slight error, the explosive kit lacked explosives.
Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, B.D.F. Chief of Staff/Demolition Expert
“It was announced that an M18-A1 Claymore Anti Personnel mine was found. But what was actually found was not the actual mine. The claymore has different components that goes with it: there is the mine itself, there is the detonator that sets off the mine, there is the wires which transmit the electrical charge and then you have the firing device which initiates the actual explosive train. What the police recovered was the M57 firing device and the wires. What were missing were the two important components—that’s the detonator and the mine itself. So there were no mine; there were no detonators. So what was portrayed as an awesome weapon—the weapon is a deadly weapon of course, but it was not there.”
David Jones
Jose Sanchez
“Ok but only finding some components, does that mean necessarily that those parts aren’t still out there, right?”
Lieutenant Colonel David Jones
“No. Normally, unfortunately, how this thing was portrayed was not the way it should have been. Whenever these mines are used—because we have used them in the past; currently the B.D.F. do not have any of these mines and I don’t think the British Army has any of them here either. Years ago we used them and what the soldiers would normally do is take the same wire that was found and the same device to bring it in as a souvenir. Now it’s any normal electrical wire that you buy in the store; it’s just that this one is colored brown and its purpose made for the M18-A1 Claymore Mine. They brought it in; they shouldn’t have brought it in, but what they have is what they use the wires for electrical speakers or to do wiring in their vehicles or whatever you want to do any wiring with; that is what they use the wires for.”
