Italian police have seized seven tons of the powerful RDX explosive which they found in a shipping container they believe were likely destined for a terrorist organization.
While the origin and destination of the contraband is still being investigated, police are convinced the huge amount of explosive was in transit, possibly from Iran to Syria.
“The truly astonishing amount (of explosive) we seized leads us to believe the recipients could be large international criminal organizations, perhaps tied to terrorism,” Carmelo Casabona, the chief of police said at a press conference in Reggio Calabria today, according to the ANSA news agency.
RDX (“Research Department Explosive,” often known as cyclonite) was one of the more common explosives used since WW II. It is about 1.5 times as powerful as TNT per unit weight and 2.0 times as powerful per volume. Because supplies were limited during WW II, it was usually incorporated into mixtures like Torpex or Semtex. It can be bound with polymers to form a plastic explosive, or combined with ammonium nitrate fertilizer for a cheap booster. So, seven tons of the stuff can be used to make a lot of mischief.
One also never knows what Iraq may have moved to Syria during Saddam’s time. The Bush administration took a lot of heat for possibly spinning the WMD intell, but I believe that unfair…it’s not like the NY Times truly knows what the CIA and co. was/is up to, despite journalists’ assessments of themselves.
While the amount of explosives seized seem large when compared to their destructive capability, this seizure probably represents a ‘lucky find’ on the part of the seizing officials and is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of the international explosives/weapons smuggling ‘trade’ in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Just consider our own situation in the USA with regard to international narcotics smuggling. Regardless of large drug seizures, the ‘on the street’ drug prices seem to remain the same. This indicates that our drug interdiction efforts are only seizing the ‘tip of the iceberg.’
What is important is the serious intent and and the actual operational capability of the intended recipients of the explosives.
Security forces can go on seizing shipment after shipment of weapons/explosives, but until they can pinpoint the terrorists of serious intent and ACTUAL operational capability, they are ‘chasing their tails.’
So, the real game is in the world of human intelligence (HUMINT). How well are we doing in that game?