Marking of Plastic Explosives
in general and just holding the debate was nearest willing supplier with goods at the
always going to lead governments to right price, several thousand miles away.
tighten controls. Now other factors may Some countries were always in this
come into play, in some states plastic situation, but the number involved may
explosive production is declining, with increase.
manufacturers citing restrictive health and Could this be the next transport security
safety legislation as a cause (using more challenge? Maybe, but just as likely we will
toxic materials can’t have helped). be busy dealing the challenges posed by
The demand for plastic explosives is detection of improvised materials such as
unlikely to decline at the same rate; they mixtures based on hydrogen peroxide for a
still have plenty of legitimate commercial while longer yet.
uses besides the obvious military ones.
Whilst all this might seem desirable,
globalisation might mean more has to
move over greater distances. Again
legislation is in some cases meaning
transportation costs are becoming
prohibitive for some commercial users.
There will continue to be great demand The author is Managing Director of
within armed forces around the world and Quelltex Ltd, Aviation and Maritime
as some western European manufacturers Security training providers and is a Director
move away from production, we may have of EDUKi Ltd, a provider of web-based
considerable demand in one state and the General Security Awareness Training.
Home-made explosives
Summary
Nowadays, plastic explosives have to be
marked in production with 1 of 4 approved
chemical tagging agents intended to
produce more detectable vapour from the
material. However, there are several
problems: firstly, we don’t make extensive
use of vapour detection as a technology,
with the exception of dogs and they don’t
seem to care if it is tagged or not. Secondly,
plastic explosives often have excellent
storage capabilities and so untagged
materials may be around for a long time.
Thirdly, the tagging agents lose some of their
effectiveness after several years. And last,
but not least, many explosives (including
TNT and cast TNT mixtures, Emulsions,
Ammonium Nitrate, and liquid explosives)
are not included in the requirements; nor
are home made explosives.
Where Next?
It is hard to say to what extent marking of
plastic explosives for detection has been
successful. At face value, the terrorist
presently seems to have something of a
preference for improvised materials, but
this doesn’t mean they have been driven to
this out of fear of the detection of plastic
explosives. Supply could just as easily be a
factor and there, perhaps, it could be
argued that the regulations have been a
success. The resolution also addressed the
movement of untagged plastic explosives
Aviationsecurityinternational April 2008 www.asi-mag.com 17
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