ISLAMABAD: There have been media reports of high-risk facilities employing fraudulent bomb detectors since the Jinnah International Airport attack of 2014 – two years on, the same devices are being used across the country with no evident action from the federal government, said Senator Sherry Rehman.
Rehman was referring to the successor of the bogus ‘ADE-651’ bomb detector manufactured and sold by the British James McCormick – now jailed along with his accomplices after being indicted in an investigation on the same.
According to media reports, the Airport Security Force (ASF) is now manufacturing a version of the same bogus wands, which are being used at airports and government installations, as well as in public places like malls, hotels, and restaurants.
Rehman cited reports saying that despite being proven useless by experts, about 15,000 of the devices – dubbed ‘khoji’ – have been sold in Pakistan. “In a country where the threat of a terrorist attack is always just around the corner, the authorities are tacitly instilling a false sense of security. Pakistan cannot afford this false sense of security,” she said.
Rehman suggested a thorough inquiry into the criminal negligence with heads to roll while such useless equipment needs to be withdrawn from use. “The bogus device costs Rs 70,000 each – is that the price of thousands of lives that we are now willing to pay?” concluded Senator Sherry Rehman.
