Global Technical Ltd is at the forefront of the development of paramagnetic technology for the detection of narcotics, explosives, weapons. and many other substances, according to its website.
Whether or not this is true, this development appears not to have made it through to the company’s GT200 explosives detector, which has landed businessman Gary Bolton a seven-year jail term for fraud.
The GT200 detection system claims to be able to detect explosives, narcotics, weapons, and other substances, but it was described in the Old Bailey as a box with handles and antennae. A judge reportedly said that the devices “had a random detection rate. They were useless.” Bolton apparently made as much as GB pound 3 million (US$4.1 million) by selling the devices for around GB pound 10,000 (US$13,382) each to foreign governments, including the Thai army and Mexican police. They cost him less than GB pound 5 to make from his Kent office.
The devices look utterly ridiculous, and pictures of them in use by officials even more so. But while it is easy to mock the product, it has undoubtedly put lives at risk and done huge reputational damage to the UK as a manufacturer and exporter of high-end, counter-terror equipment.
Greg Stuttle is the Chairman of the BSIA’s Export Council, which promotes the interests of British manufacturers and service providers overseas. He told us:
I hope that the actions of one company will not tarnish the reputation of all British security manufacturers and service providers. The BSIA’s Export Council firmly believes that British security product and services are recognised as world leaders in quality and innovation, and we will continue to fly the flag at forthcoming exhibitions and events around the world.
Reports in the Guardian suggest that human rights campaigners in Thailand have identified at least two fatal bombings where the GT200 was used to check vehicles for explosives.
The device works, according to Global Technical Ltd’s website, using paramagnetic technology. We managed to find a distributor’s product description, which enlightened us:
The GT200 works on the principal of dia/para magnetism. All substances carry a magnetic charge that, when stimulated by an impulse of electricity, (static) creates an attraction between the substance being detected and the GT200 unit itself. This is called EMA or Electro Magnetic Attraction.
Doubts around the validity of the science behind the GT200 detector first emerged in 2010, when a Newsnight investigation revealed that a similar device, the ADE-651, was bogus. The man behind that product, Jim McCormick, was jailed in May after selling an estimated GB pound 50m (US$66m) worth of products to customers including the Iraqi Police force.
Thailand’s Prime Minister ordered a study into the devices in 2010, and despite the Office of Fair Trading finding that it had no moving parts, and therefore had no credibility as an explosives detector, officials were still saying as recently as 2012 that its use would continue.
Now, such a stance has been put beyond any doubt as Bolton was sentenced for seven years for one count of making an article for use in fraud and another for selling an article for use in fraud. The court heard that the device was shown to be inaccurate as long ago as 1999 when the Royal Engineers produced a report claiming the device was only accurate 30 percent of the time. The Guardian has seen a copy of this report, which Bolton allegedly doctored in order to make it appear that his product was effective.
He also allegedly claimed that the devices would work up to 2.5 miles in the air, and could penetrate lead-lined walls.
The judge told Bolton:
You were determined to bolster the illusion that the devices worked and you knew there was a spurious science to produce that end. They had a random detection rate. They were useless.
Soldiers, police officers, customs officers, and many others put their trust in a device which worked n better than random chance. The jury found you knew this but you carried on. Your profits were enormous.
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