GT200
Encyclopedia
The GT200 is a fraudulent "remote substance detector
" that is claimed by its manufacturer, UK-based Global Technical Ltd, to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs. The GT200 and its many iterations (Sniffex
, ADE651, HEDD1) have been sold to a number of countries for a cost of up to £22,000 ($36,000) per unit, but the devices have been criticised as little more than a "divining rod" which lack any scientific explanation for why it should work.
The device has come under scrutiny following revelations about the virtually identical ADE 651
, another "substance detector" that has become the focus of a fraud investigation in the United Kingdom. The UK Government has banned the export of such devices to Iraq
and Afghanistan
in an order brought into force in January 2010 under the Export Control Act 2002 and has warned foreign governments that the GT200 and ADE 651 are "wholly ineffective" at detecting bombs and explosives.
The Thai
press has condemned the GT200 for having "given wrong readings on several occasions and even failed to detect explosive materials, resulting in the loss of life." Although Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
originally defended the devices, he later recanted when tests showed that they were completely ineffective at detecting explosives. However, they would still be used in the field at the discretion of the Army, which procured the devices and continue to use them.
. The company (registered number 03300333) was established as a private limited company on 9 January 1997 with Gary Bolton as director. A number of overseas partners including Segtec, Napco, Nikunj Eximp Enterprises, Electronic K9 Singapore, Aviasatcom and Concord Consulting have distributed its products in Central America, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and Thailand respectively. Global Technical also had a sister company, Global Technical Training Services Ltd (registered company 03793910), which was established on 23 June 1999 but is now dissolved.
Promotional material issued about the GT200 claims that it can detect a wide variety of items including ammunition, explosives, drugs, gold, ivory, currency, tobacco and "human bodies" at ranges of up to 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) on the surface, depths of up to 60 metres (196.9 ft) underground or under 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) of water, or even from aircraft at an altitude of up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi). A "Substance Sensor Card" inserted into the device is said to create an "attracting field" utilising "dia/para magnetism" between the device and the substance that is to be detected. The field is claimed to make the antenna of the GT200 lock onto a signal, indicating the direction in which the substance can be located. According to the promotional material, if the device is used correctly, it "can detect substance(s) through walls, (even lead-lined and metal ones), water, (fresh and salted), fresh and frozen food, (fish, fruit, tea, coffee, ice), vacuum flask, containers, petrol and diesel fuel and even buried in the earth" and can detect narcotics for up to two weeks after they have been ingested by a target individual.
According to the Thai newspaper The Nation
, the GT200 is "just a new name" for a previous Global Technical product, the MOLE programmable substance detection system. It operated in the same way as the GT200, using a swinging antenna to point to a target material indicated via "programmable cards" inserted into a reader. The MOLE was tested in the United States in 2002 by Sandia National Laboratories
but was found to perform no better than random chance. According to the Sandia report, the MOLE appears "physically nearly identical" to a product Sandia examined in October 1995 called the Quadro Tracker
, which was marketed by a South Carolina
company but which was banned in 1996 and the makers prosecuted for fraud.
A BBC
Newsnight
investigation of the GT200 in January 2010 found that the "sensor card" contained merely two sheets of card between which was sandwiched a sheet of paper, white on one side and black on the other, that had been cut off from a larger sheet with a knife or scissors. It contained no electronic components whatsoever. When the device's case was dismantled, it too was found to contain no electronic components. Explosives expert Sidney Alford told Newsnight: "Speaking as a professional, I would say that is an empty plastic case." Gary Bolton of Global Technical said that the lack of any electronic parts "does not mean it does not operate to the specification."
A GT200 unit was examined on Thailand's Nation Channel in an interview with Lt Col Somchai Chalermsuksan of the Thai Central Institute of Forensic Science. The host commented that "there is no battery here or way of powering it" and that the bottom half of the device was completely empty. Asked if there was anything in the sealed top half of the device, Lt Col Somchai said: "There is nothing. Once there was an accident and the device came apart. There was nothing inside." The host concluded: "So it is just two pieces of plastic put together."
, the UK Government issued an order under the Export Control Act 2002 that came into force on 27 January 2010, banning the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of "‘electro-statically powered’ equipment for detecting 'explosives'", on the grounds that such equipment "could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces". The export ban covers all such devices, including the GT200.
Officers from the City of London Police
Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit subsequently raided the offices of Global Technical and two other makers of similar "bomb detectors". A large amount of cash and several hundred of the devices and their component parts were seized. The police said that they were investigating on suspicion of fraud by false representation and were also investigating whether bribes had been paid to secure contracts to supply the devices.
On February 27th 2011 the British government told BBC Newsnight that it had helped Global Technical sell the GT200 around the world between 2001 and 2004. Royal Engineers sales teams demonstrated the devices at arms fairs and the Uk Department of Trade and Industry helped two companies sell the GT200 and similar products in Mexico and the Philippines .
.
Reportedly, some 818 GT200 units were procured by Thai public bodies since 2004. These include 535 bought by the Royal Thai Army for use combating the South Thailand insurgency
and another 222 for use in other areas, 50 purchased by the Royal Thai Police for use in Police Region 4 (Khon Kaen
), 6 bought by the Central Institute of Forensic Science, 6 by the Customs Department, 4 by the Royal Thai Air Force and 1 by Chai Nat police. Other agencies such as the Border Patrol Police Bureau and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board use a similar device, the Alpha 6
, procured from another company. According to the Bangkok Post
, the Royal Thai Air Force first procured the GT200 to detect explosives and drugs at airports, followed by the army in 2006. According to Lt Gen Daopong Rattansuwan, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Army, each GT200 bought by the army cost 900,000 baht (£17,000/$27,000), rising to 1.2 million baht (£22,000/$36,000) if 21 "sensor cards" were included with it. In total, Thailand's government and security forces have spent between 800-900 million baht ($21 million) on the devices.
The device is also widely used in Mexico, where security forces have used it to combat drug traffickers and to search for explosives. The Mexican government has spent over 17 million pesos
($1.3 million) buying GT200s at a cost of 286,000 pesos ($22,000) each. According to the government of Guanajuato
state, the federal government has bought more than 700 GT200s. State governments have also bought their own GT200s; the device is reported to be in use by police in the Mexican states of Tabasco
, Sonora
, Sinaloa
, Durango
, Michoacán
and Baja California
. The Mexican military also utilises the GT200. In 2008 the Secretariat of National Defense had purchased 300 GT200s for use throughout the country, including at 133 strategic locations. By late 2009 the figure had increased to 521 GT200s, which had been deployed to 11 strategic checkpoints and 284 regional control stations around the country. In the violence-wracked city of Ciudad Juárez
, the newspaper Excélsior
reported that "military squads roam the streets and go from house to house, using a molecular detector known as GT200" to find weapons, drugs and money. Prison personnel in Juárez and its parent state, Chihuahua, have been provided with GT200s to detect escape tunnels being dug by prisoners.
The GT200 has been demonstrated in India for organisations including the Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, Narcotics Control Bureau and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and was procured by the Dubai
Customs in 2009. Hotels in Manila
in the Philippines
use it to detect bombs. It is also in use in Lebanon
, Jordan
and China.
The device is used to detect smuggled ivory in the central African states of Zambia
, Uganda
, Kenya
, Tanzania
and the Republic of the Congo
. The Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) and the United Nations Environment Programme
bought 15 GT200s in 2005 at a cost of $5,000 each and distributed them to the five LATF member states. In Uganda, the GT200s were installed at Entebbe International Airport
, border crossings and internal checkpoints. A report submitted by Kenya to the CITES Standing Committee in 2006 stated that "three staffs from Tanzania were trained on the use of GT 200 Ivory Detector for the purposes of law enforcement against illegal dealing in ivory products, in the country. Four (4) Ivory Detectors are currently in place and are used for law enforcement activities especially at entry and exit points."
Three members of a border patrol police unit were killed on 7 November 2008 in Panare
district when the GT200 they were using failed to detect a bomb planted on a road. In Muang district of Yala Province
, security forces used a GT200 to investigate the scene of the murder of two officials but were unable to detect a followup boobytrap bomb, which exploded just after they had declared the area to be clear of bombs.
Numerous people were killed and injured in two bomb attacks in October 2009 in which the GT200 was used by security forces. On 6 October 2009, a car bomb exploded opposite the Merlin Hotel in Sungai Kolok, killing one person and injuring 20, after it had been "scanned" using a GT200 and declared to be free of explosives. A motorcycle bomb exploded on 19 October in Yala, injuring another 26 people, again after a scan with a GT200 had returned negative results for explosives.
False positives have also been reported, with civilians being arrested after a GT200 "detected" traces of explosives on them. Similar erroneous readings were reported to have caused "pandemonium" at Pattani
Hospital. On one occasion the device was reported to have "incriminated the top of a coconut tree", though the alert turned out to have been triggered by a plastic bag with vegetable oil inside. Thai journalist Charoon Thongnual reported personally experiencing the GT200 showing false positives:
The Bangkok Post reported on a Thai army field training session using the GT200 near Yala city
in November 2009, in which a bomb squad using GT200 devices repeatedly failed to detect explosives:
Hundreds are said to have been detained by Thai security forces on the basis of GT200 readings. According to Human Rights Watch
, about 10% of those detained on suspicion of involvement in the insurgency have been arrested on this basis. In one village in Narathiwat
province, 32 people were arrested after GT200s were used to "detect" traces of explosive substances on their bodies. Most of them were detained without charge for an extended period. Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch commented: "It is common during security sweeps in the south to see Muslim men lined up on the roadside with their shirts off while being screened by a GT200. Many of those implicated by the GT200 have been arrested and then tortured."
The Working Group on Justice for Peace, a Thai non-governmental human rights organisation, published an article in November 2009 that was strongly critical of the GT200: "The operation of the device is causing a lot of suspicion among scientists in Thailand for several reasons. According to them, the procedure of finding suspicious objects is not based on a reliable scientific method. Besides, GT200 is not being used by credible international organisations."
to investigate the procurement scheme for the GT200 devices and other elements of the counter-insurgency campaign in southern Thailand. Jetsada Denduangboripan, a scientist at Chulalongkorn University, told a committee of the House of Representatives of Thailand
in January 2010 that "The GT200 cannot detect explosives. It is not scientific equipment. It works on the users' hunch. It is similar to a wood stick that people used to detect dead bodies buried in a cemetery." He used a set of pliers, a radio antenna and a piece of paper to produce a "bomb detector" that he said worked just as effectively as the GT200. The House committee on national security said that it would investigate the GT200 further and set up an inquiry into its effectiveness that would involve the military and scientists.
Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam told journalists after a fatal bomb attack in Southern Thailand on 6 October 2009 that the police had failed to detect the bomb "because the officer handling the GT200 detector was too nervous... His nervousness caused his temperature to rise which, in turn, caused the bomb detector to malfunction." He announced that in future two officers would be assigned to use the device, with the second ready to take over from the first if he was "not ready to use it."
Following media criticism, Army chief General Anupong Paochinda
accused the press of working for Asia Satcom's competitors. He organized a demonstration to "prove" to the media that the devices worked. 4th Army chief Lt. General Pichet Wisaijorn told the press, "It is not Gen Anupong saying the device is effective. Officers in the South and the North and the current and former 4th Army commanders also say the same thing. We have bought them and if the users insist they are good, that's end of the discussion." Joint Military Police Civilian Taskforce commander Lt-General Kasikorn Kirisri said any issues with the GT200 scanner were due to human error. According to Col Banpot Poonpian of the Thai army's Internal Security Operations Command, the GT200 has "proved effective although it may not work perfectly". It was used only as an auxiliary tool to detect something suspicious, with two other devices being used to identify the suspicious object. A recent investigation had found that failures were the result of users relying solely on the GT200 and not using the other two devices, following which bomb disposal personnel had undergone additional training.
According to an Army commander, which makes extensive use of the device, how well it works "depends on the static electricity stored in the body of its user. If the person using the detector is feeling weak physically, his static electricity will be down and weaken the effectiveness of the device."
After the BBC reported that the British government was to warn foreign governments that the GT200 and other similar devices were "wholly ineffective" at detecting bombs and explosives, General Anupong said that the procurement of more GT200s would be halted if the device was proven to be ineffective, although existing GT200s would continue to be used for bomb detection purposes. Other senior military figures continued to insist that the device worked as advertised, saying that it had detected explosives, weapons and narcotics in 173 out of 236 incidences, with a success rate higher than 80 per cent. Army Spokesperson Sansern Kaewkamnerd insisted that the GT200 units worked with 100% confidence and that the Army was ready to prove the units' effectiveness any time, any where. Pornthip Rojanasunand
, Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, also defended the use of the GT200 devices, claiming that they were effective when searching for bombs and even nails under water. She said: "I do not feel embarrassed if the bomb detector is proven ineffective. Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist. The devices are there and no one has the right to ban their use. I will continue to use it."
Following Abhisit's intervention, the Thai Cabinet ordered the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out tests on the GT200. The Interior and Justice Ministries also commissioned the ministry to test the similar Alpha 6 device, which they used to search for drugs. The evaluation team included engineers, scientists, military, police and representatives from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the National Statistics Office. The tests were carried out by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center at the Thailand Science Park's Sirindhorn Science Home in Pathum Thani
, in a process involving 30 GT200 operators, 30 members of the investigating committee and 10 independent observers. Ten GT200 units were used in double blind tests to detect 20 grams of C4 explosive
concealed in one of four identical plastic boxes. However, the testers were not allowed to examine the interior of the GT200 because of confidentiality agreements prohibiting the disclosure of "any information regarding the device."
The test results were announced by Prime Minister Abhisit on 16 February, who disclosed that the investigators found that the GT200 had correctly detected explosives only four times in 20 tests. He said: "The result has no statistical significance. The performance is equivalent to random chance." Following the test results, he ordered security forces to stop buying the devices and review the use of those already in service. He said that the government would consider suing the GT200's manufacturer, Global Technical, and its Thai distributor Avia Satcom Co. An Army spokesman said that units on the ground would have discretion to continue using the GT200 unless they could find a substitute, though the Army would be sending proven alternatives such as sniffer dogs to assist the troops. Pornthip Rojanasunand of the Central Institute of Forensic Science said that although she knew it was "not scientific equipment", she believed that forensic scientists could still use it effectively: "We won't buy more, but we won't stop using them either."
Global Technical rejected the tests' conclusions. The company issued a statement saying that it was "surprised and disappointed" by the outcome of the tests. It claimed that the results were "completely at odds with other tests carried out by independent bodies" and with "the experience of the large number of users of this product all over the world."
Despite the outcome of the tests, Thai Army chief General Anupong Paojinda said that he would not order his soldiers to stop using the GT200. He insisted that "the device operators on the ground can use them effectively. This may not be explained scientifically, but I'm telling the truth." While not rejecting the result of the tests, he stood by the device's effectiveness and argued that "as the men on the ground are impressed with it and demanded the equipment, it is the duty of the commander to procure them." He rejected the use of sniffer dogs on the grounds that they could not detect explosives at a distance and were disliked by Muslims for religious reasons. The former army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin also argued that the purchase of the GT200 had been justified as there was demand from operational units, despite the high price of the device: "Price is not an issue if the device is able to save people's lives." Prime Minister Abhisit ordered the scientists who had conducted the tests to explain their findings to the military and ask them to stop using the device, but said that he did not want to confront the army. Some soldiers, however, were reported to have abandoned the GT200 and turned instead to using chopsticks
and their own hands to detect bombs hidden on motorcycles.
"molecular detector" device has come under scrutiny. The Thailand Science and Technology Ministry announced that it would broaden its tests to verify the claimed effectiveness of the Alpha 6.
, who saw the GT200 being used by Kenyan rangers in an attempt to catch poachers, described the use of the devices as "cynical, cruel and monstrous." He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "I was horrified. They had spent a vast sum of money on a modern equivalent of a hazel twig divining rod. There was no possibility that such a thing could work."
All of this had been not enough to create public awareness on this subject. Main press and TV continued not just ignoring the subject but even justifying it. Mexican military continues doing searches and explosives are ruled out based on GT200 results.This situation might have changed the publication by a major newspaper, El Universal, of a critical article in its first page. Subsequent articles were published daily for a week in the main and editorial pages of that newspaper, and interviews with scientists and human rights defenders were transmitted in television and radio channels.
According to data available in Federal Institute of Access to Public Information (IFAI) and press notes, the GT200 has been bought among others by the SEDENA, SEMAR
, some PEMEX
filials and some state police agencies. As of 2011, more than MXN$340 million mexican pesos (US$26 million US dollars (at 2011-09-16 rate)) have been spent to purchase more than 940 detectors.
In Sep. 13, 2011, a group of scientists, including members of the Science Council of the Presidency and the president of the Mexican Academy of Science, met members of the Science Committee of the Senate to discuss the GT200. The scientists argued that the claimed scientific basis for the operation of the GT200 was false and that the device was unlikely to work, they pointed out the risks to the armed forces and to the civilian population from the continued use of the detector, and that notwithstanding the apparent number of favorable testimonies, the devices had to be subjected to controlled double blind tests. The senators announced they would present a resolution to the main assembly of the Senate in order to audit the armed forces and demand a scientific test of their equipment.
In Oct. 3, 2011, Karla Macías Lovera, a judge in the state of Veracruz, took a historic decision, ordering the liberation of Ernesto Cayetano Aguilar, a man that had been accused of carrying drugs eight months back, when he was singled out by the GT200 from among the passengers of a bus where a kilo of marijuana was found. The judge argued that the GT200 provided no credible evidence, as there is no scientific proof that it actually works.
In Oct. 21, 2011, double blind tests were finally performed in México to asses the efficacy of the GT200 detector. The results of this test were to be presented as a proof in an ongoing judicial process. Thus, they are not yet public (Nov. 2,2011) as the judge has not yet resolved the case.
The El Paso Times
reported on Oct. 24th, 2011 that the Mexican army turned down an offer from the Mexican Association for the Sciences to help test the effectiveness of the GT200. In a written response, the Mexican army stated that their contract with the GT200 supplier prevents them from accepting the offer.
Long range locator
A long range locator is a device purported to be a type of metal detector used to detect deposits of gold or similar precious materials; most are said to operate on a principle of resonance with the material being detected.-Theory of operation:...
" that is claimed by its manufacturer, UK-based Global Technical Ltd, to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs. The GT200 and its many iterations (Sniffex
Sniffex
Sniffex is a now debunked, portable explosives detection system produced by Homeland Safety International.An article in The Dallas Morning News in April 2007 explained that Sniffex is a divining rod and states that "In a test by the U.S...
, ADE651, HEDD1) have been sold to a number of countries for a cost of up to £22,000 ($36,000) per unit, but the devices have been criticised as little more than a "divining rod" which lack any scientific explanation for why it should work.
The device has come under scrutiny following revelations about the virtually identical ADE 651
ADE 651
The ADE 651 is a hand-held device produced by ATSC , which claims the device can detect from a distance the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as...
, another "substance detector" that has become the focus of a fraud investigation in the United Kingdom. The UK Government has banned the export of such devices to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in an order brought into force in January 2010 under the Export Control Act 2002 and has warned foreign governments that the GT200 and ADE 651 are "wholly ineffective" at detecting bombs and explosives.
The Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
press has condemned the GT200 for having "given wrong readings on several occasions and even failed to detect explosive materials, resulting in the loss of life." Although Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
Abhisit Vejjajiva
Abhisit Vejjajiva , , ; born Mark Abhisit Vejjajiva; 3 August 1964 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a Thai politician who was the 27th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011 and is the current leader of the Democrat Party...
originally defended the devices, he later recanted when tests showed that they were completely ineffective at detecting explosives. However, they would still be used in the field at the discretion of the Army, which procured the devices and continue to use them.
Description and background
The GT200 consists of three main components—a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip, into which sensor cards can be inserted. It requires no battery or other power source and is said to be powered solely by the user's static electricity. The device becomes active when the operator starts moving and detects various substances via "DIA/PARA magnetism". It is made by Global Technical Ltd of Ashford, KentAshford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
. The company (registered number 03300333) was established as a private limited company on 9 January 1997 with Gary Bolton as director. A number of overseas partners including Segtec, Napco, Nikunj Eximp Enterprises, Electronic K9 Singapore, Aviasatcom and Concord Consulting have distributed its products in Central America, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and Thailand respectively. Global Technical also had a sister company, Global Technical Training Services Ltd (registered company 03793910), which was established on 23 June 1999 but is now dissolved.
Promotional material issued about the GT200 claims that it can detect a wide variety of items including ammunition, explosives, drugs, gold, ivory, currency, tobacco and "human bodies" at ranges of up to 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) on the surface, depths of up to 60 metres (196.9 ft) underground or under 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) of water, or even from aircraft at an altitude of up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi). A "Substance Sensor Card" inserted into the device is said to create an "attracting field" utilising "dia/para magnetism" between the device and the substance that is to be detected. The field is claimed to make the antenna of the GT200 lock onto a signal, indicating the direction in which the substance can be located. According to the promotional material, if the device is used correctly, it "can detect substance(s) through walls, (even lead-lined and metal ones), water, (fresh and salted), fresh and frozen food, (fish, fruit, tea, coffee, ice), vacuum flask, containers, petrol and diesel fuel and even buried in the earth" and can detect narcotics for up to two weeks after they have been ingested by a target individual.
According to the Thai newspaper The Nation
The Nation (Thailand)
The Nation is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper founded in 1971 and published in Bangkok, Thailand, and is owned by the Nation Multimedia Group.The Nation is a member of the Asia News Network...
, the GT200 is "just a new name" for a previous Global Technical product, the MOLE programmable substance detection system. It operated in the same way as the GT200, using a swinging antenna to point to a target material indicated via "programmable cards" inserted into a reader. The MOLE was tested in the United States in 2002 by Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
but was found to perform no better than random chance. According to the Sandia report, the MOLE appears "physically nearly identical" to a product Sandia examined in October 1995 called the Quadro Tracker
Quadro Tracker
The Quadro Tracker, also known as the Positive Molecular Locator, was a "detection device" sold by Quadro Corp. of Harleyville, South Carolina between 1993 and 1996. Around 1,000 were sold to police departments and school districts around the United States on the basis that it could detect hidden...
, which was marketed by a South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
company but which was banned in 1996 and the makers prosecuted for fraud.
A BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
investigation of the GT200 in January 2010 found that the "sensor card" contained merely two sheets of card between which was sandwiched a sheet of paper, white on one side and black on the other, that had been cut off from a larger sheet with a knife or scissors. It contained no electronic components whatsoever. When the device's case was dismantled, it too was found to contain no electronic components. Explosives expert Sidney Alford told Newsnight: "Speaking as a professional, I would say that is an empty plastic case." Gary Bolton of Global Technical said that the lack of any electronic parts "does not mean it does not operate to the specification."
A GT200 unit was examined on Thailand's Nation Channel in an interview with Lt Col Somchai Chalermsuksan of the Thai Central Institute of Forensic Science. The host commented that "there is no battery here or way of powering it" and that the bottom half of the device was completely empty. Asked if there was anything in the sealed top half of the device, Lt Col Somchai said: "There is nothing. Once there was an accident and the device came apart. There was nothing inside." The host concluded: "So it is just two pieces of plastic put together."
Export ban and police investigation
Following controversy over a similar device, the ADE 651ADE 651
The ADE 651 is a hand-held device produced by ATSC , which claims the device can detect from a distance the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as...
, the UK Government issued an order under the Export Control Act 2002 that came into force on 27 January 2010, banning the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of "‘electro-statically powered’ equipment for detecting 'explosives'", on the grounds that such equipment "could cause harm to UK and other friendly forces". The export ban covers all such devices, including the GT200.
Officers from the City of London Police
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle and Inner Temple. The service responsible for law enforcement within the rest of Greater London is the Metropolitan Police Service, a separate...
Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit subsequently raided the offices of Global Technical and two other makers of similar "bomb detectors". A large amount of cash and several hundred of the devices and their component parts were seized. The police said that they were investigating on suspicion of fraud by false representation and were also investigating whether bribes had been paid to secure contracts to supply the devices.
On February 27th 2011 the British government told BBC Newsnight that it had helped Global Technical sell the GT200 around the world between 2001 and 2004. Royal Engineers sales teams demonstrated the devices at arms fairs and the Uk Department of Trade and Industry helped two companies sell the GT200 and similar products in Mexico and the Philippines .
Users
The GT200 is used extensively in ThailandThailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
Reportedly, some 818 GT200 units were procured by Thai public bodies since 2004. These include 535 bought by the Royal Thai Army for use combating the South Thailand insurgency
South Thailand insurgency
An ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...
and another 222 for use in other areas, 50 purchased by the Royal Thai Police for use in Police Region 4 (Khon Kaen
Khon Kaen
Khon Kaen is a city in Isan, Thailand. It is also the capital of Khon Kaen province and the Khon Kaen district.-Geography and demography:Khon Kaen is located in the Khorat Plateau, in the central-northwestern area of Isaan...
), 6 bought by the Central Institute of Forensic Science, 6 by the Customs Department, 4 by the Royal Thai Air Force and 1 by Chai Nat police. Other agencies such as the Border Patrol Police Bureau and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board use a similar device, the Alpha 6
Alpha 6
The Alpha 6 is a controversial "molecular detector" that is claimed to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs...
, procured from another company. According to the Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
The Bangkok Post is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1 baht, a considerable amount at the time....
, the Royal Thai Air Force first procured the GT200 to detect explosives and drugs at airports, followed by the army in 2006. According to Lt Gen Daopong Rattansuwan, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Army, each GT200 bought by the army cost 900,000 baht (£17,000/$27,000), rising to 1.2 million baht (£22,000/$36,000) if 21 "sensor cards" were included with it. In total, Thailand's government and security forces have spent between 800-900 million baht ($21 million) on the devices.
The device is also widely used in Mexico, where security forces have used it to combat drug traffickers and to search for explosives. The Mexican government has spent over 17 million pesos
Mexican peso
The peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$". The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most...
($1.3 million) buying GT200s at a cost of 286,000 pesos ($22,000) each. According to the government of Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
state, the federal government has bought more than 700 GT200s. State governments have also bought their own GT200s; the device is reported to be in use by police in the Mexican states of Tabasco
Tabasco
Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa....
, Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....
, Durango
Durango
Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
and Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
. The Mexican military also utilises the GT200. In 2008 the Secretariat of National Defense had purchased 300 GT200s for use throughout the country, including at 133 strategic locations. By late 2009 the figure had increased to 521 GT200s, which had been deployed to 11 strategic checkpoints and 284 regional control stations around the country. In the violence-wracked city of Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, the newspaper Excélsior
Excélsior
Excélsior is a daily newspaper, founded by Rafael Alducin and published in Mexico City since 1917.During the 1950s and 1960s, the newspaper's editorial stance was of a relatively liberal bent, under the editorship of Julio Scherer...
reported that "military squads roam the streets and go from house to house, using a molecular detector known as GT200" to find weapons, drugs and money. Prison personnel in Juárez and its parent state, Chihuahua, have been provided with GT200s to detect escape tunnels being dug by prisoners.
The GT200 has been demonstrated in India for organisations including the Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, Narcotics Control Bureau and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and was procured by the Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
Customs in 2009. Hotels in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
use it to detect bombs. It is also in use in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and China.
The device is used to detect smuggled ivory in the central African states of Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
and the Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
. The Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) and the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
bought 15 GT200s in 2005 at a cost of $5,000 each and distributed them to the five LATF member states. In Uganda, the GT200s were installed at Entebbe International Airport
Entebbe International Airport
Entebbe International Airport is the principal international airport of Uganda.-Location:It is located near the town of Entebbe, on the shores of Lake Victoria, and about from the capital, Kampala...
, border crossings and internal checkpoints. A report submitted by Kenya to the CITES Standing Committee in 2006 stated that "three staffs from Tanzania were trained on the use of GT 200 Ivory Detector for the purposes of law enforcement against illegal dealing in ivory products, in the country. Four (4) Ivory Detectors are currently in place and are used for law enforcement activities especially at entry and exit points."
Thailand
The effectiveness of the GT200 has been the subject of controversy in Thailand, where the device has been reported to have been implicated in several deaths when it failed to detect improvised explosive devices which detonated, killing civilians and personnel from the security forces.Three members of a border patrol police unit were killed on 7 November 2008 in Panare
Amphoe Panare
-History:The name Panare comes from Pattani Malay language. Pata means Sea Beach, Tare means Otter Trawl. Thus Pata Tare means a beach for drying otter trawls in the air. With time the pronounce changed to Panare.-Geography:...
district when the GT200 they were using failed to detect a bomb planted on a road. In Muang district of Yala Province
Yala Province
Yala is the southernmost province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat. Yala is the only land-locked province in the south of Thailand...
, security forces used a GT200 to investigate the scene of the murder of two officials but were unable to detect a followup boobytrap bomb, which exploded just after they had declared the area to be clear of bombs.
Numerous people were killed and injured in two bomb attacks in October 2009 in which the GT200 was used by security forces. On 6 October 2009, a car bomb exploded opposite the Merlin Hotel in Sungai Kolok, killing one person and injuring 20, after it had been "scanned" using a GT200 and declared to be free of explosives. A motorcycle bomb exploded on 19 October in Yala, injuring another 26 people, again after a scan with a GT200 had returned negative results for explosives.
False positives have also been reported, with civilians being arrested after a GT200 "detected" traces of explosives on them. Similar erroneous readings were reported to have caused "pandemonium" at Pattani
Pattani
Pattani may refer to* Pattani Province, in southern Thailand* Pattani , in southern Thailand* Pattani , which includes the above province** Pattani Kingdom, a former semi-independent kingdom...
Hospital. On one occasion the device was reported to have "incriminated the top of a coconut tree", though the alert turned out to have been triggered by a plastic bag with vegetable oil inside. Thai journalist Charoon Thongnual reported personally experiencing the GT200 showing false positives:
The Bangkok Post reported on a Thai army field training session using the GT200 near Yala city
Yala, Thailand
Yala is a city in the extreme south of Thailand near the Malaysian border, and is administrative capital of Yala Province. The 2005 estimated population was 65,000. The city covers the whole tambon Sateng of Mueang Yala district....
in November 2009, in which a bomb squad using GT200 devices repeatedly failed to detect explosives:
Hundreds are said to have been detained by Thai security forces on the basis of GT200 readings. According to Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, about 10% of those detained on suspicion of involvement in the insurgency have been arrested on this basis. In one village in Narathiwat
Narathiwat
Narathiwat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Narathiwat Province. The town covers the whole subdistrict Bang Nak of Mueang Narathiwat district. The town was established in 1936.-External links:...
province, 32 people were arrested after GT200s were used to "detect" traces of explosive substances on their bodies. Most of them were detained without charge for an extended period. Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch commented: "It is common during security sweeps in the south to see Muslim men lined up on the roadside with their shirts off while being screened by a GT200. Many of those implicated by the GT200 have been arrested and then tortured."
The Working Group on Justice for Peace, a Thai non-governmental human rights organisation, published an article in November 2009 that was strongly critical of the GT200: "The operation of the device is causing a lot of suspicion among scientists in Thailand for several reasons. According to them, the procedure of finding suspicious objects is not based on a reliable scientific method. Besides, GT200 is not being used by credible international organisations."
Government response
Concerns were raised by some within the Thai establishment. General Pathomphong Kasornsuk, the former chief advisor of the Supreme Command, urged Prime Minister Abhisit VejjajivaAbhisit Vejjajiva
Abhisit Vejjajiva , , ; born Mark Abhisit Vejjajiva; 3 August 1964 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a Thai politician who was the 27th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011 and is the current leader of the Democrat Party...
to investigate the procurement scheme for the GT200 devices and other elements of the counter-insurgency campaign in southern Thailand. Jetsada Denduangboripan, a scientist at Chulalongkorn University, told a committee of the House of Representatives of Thailand
House of Representatives of Thailand
The House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Thailand is the lower house of the National Assembly of Thailand, the legislative branch of the Thai Government. The system of government of Thailand is that of a Constitutional Monarchy and a Parliamentary Democracy. The system of the Thai...
in January 2010 that "The GT200 cannot detect explosives. It is not scientific equipment. It works on the users' hunch. It is similar to a wood stick that people used to detect dead bodies buried in a cemetery." He used a set of pliers, a radio antenna and a piece of paper to produce a "bomb detector" that he said worked just as effectively as the GT200. The House committee on national security said that it would investigate the GT200 further and set up an inquiry into its effectiveness that would involve the military and scientists.
Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam told journalists after a fatal bomb attack in Southern Thailand on 6 October 2009 that the police had failed to detect the bomb "because the officer handling the GT200 detector was too nervous... His nervousness caused his temperature to rise which, in turn, caused the bomb detector to malfunction." He announced that in future two officers would be assigned to use the device, with the second ready to take over from the first if he was "not ready to use it."
Following media criticism, Army chief General Anupong Paochinda
Anupong Paochinda
General Anupong Paochinda is a former Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army. He held the position from 2007 until his retirement on 30 September 2010....
accused the press of working for Asia Satcom's competitors. He organized a demonstration to "prove" to the media that the devices worked. 4th Army chief Lt. General Pichet Wisaijorn told the press, "It is not Gen Anupong saying the device is effective. Officers in the South and the North and the current and former 4th Army commanders also say the same thing. We have bought them and if the users insist they are good, that's end of the discussion." Joint Military Police Civilian Taskforce commander Lt-General Kasikorn Kirisri said any issues with the GT200 scanner were due to human error. According to Col Banpot Poonpian of the Thai army's Internal Security Operations Command, the GT200 has "proved effective although it may not work perfectly". It was used only as an auxiliary tool to detect something suspicious, with two other devices being used to identify the suspicious object. A recent investigation had found that failures were the result of users relying solely on the GT200 and not using the other two devices, following which bomb disposal personnel had undergone additional training.
According to an Army commander, which makes extensive use of the device, how well it works "depends on the static electricity stored in the body of its user. If the person using the detector is feeling weak physically, his static electricity will be down and weaken the effectiveness of the device."
After the BBC reported that the British government was to warn foreign governments that the GT200 and other similar devices were "wholly ineffective" at detecting bombs and explosives, General Anupong said that the procurement of more GT200s would be halted if the device was proven to be ineffective, although existing GT200s would continue to be used for bomb detection purposes. Other senior military figures continued to insist that the device worked as advertised, saying that it had detected explosives, weapons and narcotics in 173 out of 236 incidences, with a success rate higher than 80 per cent. Army Spokesperson Sansern Kaewkamnerd insisted that the GT200 units worked with 100% confidence and that the Army was ready to prove the units' effectiveness any time, any where. Pornthip Rojanasunand
Pornthip Rojanasunand
Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand, also spelled Porntip Rojanasunan, M.D. is a Thai forensic pathologist, author, human rights activist, and cancer survivor....
, Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, also defended the use of the GT200 devices, claiming that they were effective when searching for bombs and even nails under water. She said: "I do not feel embarrassed if the bomb detector is proven ineffective. Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist. The devices are there and no one has the right to ban their use. I will continue to use it."
Review
At the start of February 2010, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that he agreed that the device should be tested to determine whether it was effective. He told the media: "It's dangerous if you think something unworkable is working. So we must test to see whether the device works. We should also discuss what we should do." If the devices were found to be ineffective, an investigation would be ordered to determine why they had been bought.Following Abhisit's intervention, the Thai Cabinet ordered the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out tests on the GT200. The Interior and Justice Ministries also commissioned the ministry to test the similar Alpha 6 device, which they used to search for drugs. The evaluation team included engineers, scientists, military, police and representatives from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the National Statistics Office. The tests were carried out by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center at the Thailand Science Park's Sirindhorn Science Home in Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani is a town in central Thailand, directly north of Bangkok. It is the capital of the Pathum Thani Province, Thailand as well as the Mueang Pathum Thani district. As of 2005, it has a population of 18,320, covering the complete subdistrict Bang Parok....
, in a process involving 30 GT200 operators, 30 members of the investigating committee and 10 independent observers. Ten GT200 units were used in double blind tests to detect 20 grams of C4 explosive
C-4 (explosive)
C4 or Composition C4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.-Composition and manufacture:C4 is made up of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer and usually marker or odorizing taggant chemicals such as 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane to help detect the explosive and...
concealed in one of four identical plastic boxes. However, the testers were not allowed to examine the interior of the GT200 because of confidentiality agreements prohibiting the disclosure of "any information regarding the device."
The test results were announced by Prime Minister Abhisit on 16 February, who disclosed that the investigators found that the GT200 had correctly detected explosives only four times in 20 tests. He said: "The result has no statistical significance. The performance is equivalent to random chance." Following the test results, he ordered security forces to stop buying the devices and review the use of those already in service. He said that the government would consider suing the GT200's manufacturer, Global Technical, and its Thai distributor Avia Satcom Co. An Army spokesman said that units on the ground would have discretion to continue using the GT200 unless they could find a substitute, though the Army would be sending proven alternatives such as sniffer dogs to assist the troops. Pornthip Rojanasunand of the Central Institute of Forensic Science said that although she knew it was "not scientific equipment", she believed that forensic scientists could still use it effectively: "We won't buy more, but we won't stop using them either."
Global Technical rejected the tests' conclusions. The company issued a statement saying that it was "surprised and disappointed" by the outcome of the tests. It claimed that the results were "completely at odds with other tests carried out by independent bodies" and with "the experience of the large number of users of this product all over the world."
Despite the outcome of the tests, Thai Army chief General Anupong Paojinda said that he would not order his soldiers to stop using the GT200. He insisted that "the device operators on the ground can use them effectively. This may not be explained scientifically, but I'm telling the truth." While not rejecting the result of the tests, he stood by the device's effectiveness and argued that "as the men on the ground are impressed with it and demanded the equipment, it is the duty of the commander to procure them." He rejected the use of sniffer dogs on the grounds that they could not detect explosives at a distance and were disliked by Muslims for religious reasons. The former army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin also argued that the purchase of the GT200 had been justified as there was demand from operational units, despite the high price of the device: "Price is not an issue if the device is able to save people's lives." Prime Minister Abhisit ordered the scientists who had conducted the tests to explain their findings to the military and ask them to stop using the device, but said that he did not want to confront the army. Some soldiers, however, were reported to have abandoned the GT200 and turned instead to using chopsticks
Chopsticks
Chopsticks are small, often tapered, sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of China and its diaspora, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Northern provinces of Laos, Thailand and Burma. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some...
and their own hands to detect bombs hidden on motorcycles.
Alpha 6 controversy
In the wake of the GT200 controversy, the procurement by the Interior and Justice Ministries of the Alpha 6Alpha 6
The Alpha 6 is a controversial "molecular detector" that is claimed to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs...
"molecular detector" device has come under scrutiny. The Thailand Science and Technology Ministry announced that it would broaden its tests to verify the claimed effectiveness of the Alpha 6.
Kenya
The use of the GT200 as a means of tracking smuggled ivory in Kenya has also been questioned. Stephen FryStephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, who saw the GT200 being used by Kenyan rangers in an attempt to catch poachers, described the use of the devices as "cynical, cruel and monstrous." He told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "I was horrified. They had spent a vast sum of money on a modern equivalent of a hazel twig divining rod. There was no possibility that such a thing could work."
Mexico
Most of the Mexican media coverage on GT200 lacked of a critical point of view, but science popularizer Martin Bonfil Olivera wrote on February 17, 2010, the first article warning about this scam. However, the impact of this article (and the next on March 10, 2010,) on the rest of the press was almost imperceptible, with only Fausto Ovalle from La-Ch.com writing about it. Only after Marc Lacey from The New York Times wrote on March 15, 2010 about the British government warning on the GT200, the scam was exposed in some Mexican newspapers. Later, Juan José Morales from Por Esto! wrote a couple of columns and Bonfil Olivera was interviewed by Ana Paula Ordorica and Enrique Acevedo for La Otra Agenda TV show. A local newspaper in Cuernavaca published about the detector in their science popularization section in the charge of the Academy of Sciences of the State of Morelos. A few critical articles published in 2011 include two interviews by Benito Jiménez and an interview by Guillermo Cárdenas.All of this had been not enough to create public awareness on this subject. Main press and TV continued not just ignoring the subject but even justifying it. Mexican military continues doing searches and explosives are ruled out based on GT200 results.This situation might have changed the publication by a major newspaper, El Universal, of a critical article in its first page. Subsequent articles were published daily for a week in the main and editorial pages of that newspaper, and interviews with scientists and human rights defenders were transmitted in television and radio channels.
According to data available in Federal Institute of Access to Public Information (IFAI) and press notes, the GT200 has been bought among others by the SEDENA, SEMAR
Semar
Semar is a character in Javanese mythology who frequently appears in wayang shadow plays. He is one of the punokawan , but is in fact divine and very wise. He is the dhanyang of Java, and is regarded by some as the most sacred figure of the kotak...
, some PEMEX
Pemex
Petróleos Mexicanos or Pemex is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. As of 2010, with a total asset worth of $415.75 billion, it is the second non-publicly listed largest company in the world by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009...
filials and some state police agencies. As of 2011, more than MXN$340 million mexican pesos (US$26 million US dollars (at 2011-09-16 rate)) have been spent to purchase more than 940 detectors.
In Sep. 13, 2011, a group of scientists, including members of the Science Council of the Presidency and the president of the Mexican Academy of Science, met members of the Science Committee of the Senate to discuss the GT200. The scientists argued that the claimed scientific basis for the operation of the GT200 was false and that the device was unlikely to work, they pointed out the risks to the armed forces and to the civilian population from the continued use of the detector, and that notwithstanding the apparent number of favorable testimonies, the devices had to be subjected to controlled double blind tests. The senators announced they would present a resolution to the main assembly of the Senate in order to audit the armed forces and demand a scientific test of their equipment.
In Oct. 3, 2011, Karla Macías Lovera, a judge in the state of Veracruz, took a historic decision, ordering the liberation of Ernesto Cayetano Aguilar, a man that had been accused of carrying drugs eight months back, when he was singled out by the GT200 from among the passengers of a bus where a kilo of marijuana was found. The judge argued that the GT200 provided no credible evidence, as there is no scientific proof that it actually works.
In Oct. 21, 2011, double blind tests were finally performed in México to asses the efficacy of the GT200 detector. The results of this test were to be presented as a proof in an ongoing judicial process. Thus, they are not yet public (Nov. 2,2011) as the judge has not yet resolved the case.
The El Paso Times
El Paso Times
The El Paso Times is the English-language newspaper for the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. The paper was founded in 1881 by Marcellus Washington Carrico. It originally started out as a weekly but within a year's time, it became the daily newspaper for the frontier town.The newspaper has a daily...
reported on Oct. 24th, 2011 that the Mexican army turned down an offer from the Mexican Association for the Sciences to help test the effectiveness of the GT200. In a written response, the Mexican army stated that their contract with the GT200 supplier prevents them from accepting the offer.
External links
- Report on the GT200 - BBC Newsnight, 16 February 2010
- Questions About Sniffex, ADE651, GT200, H3 TEC, HEDD1, and other Explosive Detectors, an informative blog.