John...OT......words fail...
911......???
abcnews.go.com
L O N D O N, Dec. 5 — At first sight it looks like a
regular cell phone — same size, same shape,
same overall appearance.
But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol — a
phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession
with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.
European law enforcement officials — stunned by the
discovery of these deadly decoys — say phone guns are
changing the rules of engagement in Europe.
“We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of
the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw
their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for
their mobile phone.”
Although cell phone guns have not hit America yet, the
FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the
U.S. Customs Service say they’ve been briefed on the new
weapons.
“This criminal invention represents a potentially serious
threat to law enforcement and the public,” said U.S. Customs
Service Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
“We received word about these guns last month. We
have since alerted our field personnel to be on the lookout
for ‘cell phone guns’ at U.S. ports of entry.”
Guns on the Move
These new covert guns were first discovered in October
when Dutch police stumbled on a cache during a drug raid in
Amsterdam.
In another recent incident a Croatian gun dealer was
caught attempting to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia
into Western Europe.
Police say both shipments are believed to have originated
in Yugoslavia.
Interpol sent out a warning to law enforcement agencies
around the world.
European border police and customs officers are at a
heightened state of alert at all ports, airports and border
crossings.
Realistic Appearance
‘If you didn’t know they were guns, you wouldn’t suspect
anything,” said Ari Zandbergen, spokesman for the
Amsterdam police.
“Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that
they are heavier,” says Birgit Heib of the German Federal
Criminal Investigation Agency.
The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half. The
.22-caliber rounds fit into the top of the phone under the
screen. The lower half, under the keyboard, holds the firing
pins. The bullets fire through the antenna by pressing the
keypad from numbers five to eight.
Amsterdam police says they are very sophisticated
machines constructed inside gutted cell phones which do not
light up or operate as real phones.
“These are very difficult to make. We believe experts are
involved,” says Zandbergen.
America on Alert
U.S. authorities, including the FBI, ATF, Federal Aviation
Administration and the U.S. Customs Service Authority have
been supplied detailed information and pictures of these new
weapons.
“They’ve been given a heads up,” said Jim Crandall, ATF
spokesman.
To date no phone guns have been discovered either in
the United States or in the process of being smuggled in,
authorities say. But they know it’s only a matter of time.
FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said airport security
officers had been trained to deal with this new threat.
“We don’t want to tell the bad guys exactly what we’re
looking for,” she says, “We are trying to stay one step
ahead.”
Will Affect Travelers
Airport authorities across Europe are implementing systems
to X-ray all cell phones, those procedures will likely be
followed by airports around the world.
“This is just one more item that we need to pay special
attention to because nowadays, of course just about every
passenger carries a mobile phone,” says the spokesman for
Frankfurt airport security.
Customs officials in the U.S. say their safety procedure
has normally been to require travelers to turn their phones
on, however that may no longer be enough. Cell phone users
will have to be made aware that reaching for their phones in
some circumstances could be misinterpreted as a threat by
authorities.
ABCNEWS’ Christel Kucharz in Bonn and Andrew Chang in
New York contributed to this report. |
