$60,000 Dowsing Rod to Iraq as Explosives Detector

[kt315]

Iraq police official charged in bomb device scandal
By Suadad al-Salhy
BAGHDAD | Thu Feb 17, 2011 1:38pm GMT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities have arrested a high-ranking police official in connection with the purchase of a bomb detector that the British government says does not work, officials said on Thursday.
Iraq spent about 75 million pounds on the devices, which are widely used by police and soldiers at security checkpoints and were meant to be a key defence against insurgents.
A series of blasts that killed hundreds in recent years had Iraqis questioning how militants got trucks, buses and cars packed with explosives through Baghdad's numerous checkpoints.
The government began investigations after reports the ADE651 bomb detection devices purchased from a British-based company were practically useless.
"Major General Jihad al-Jabiri, the commander of the bomb squad, was arrested five days ago," a senior police official close to the investigation told Reuters. "There are documents and incriminating evidence in the explosives detector case."
An Iraq Supreme Judicial Council official confirmed Jabiri's arrest on corruption charges but declined to provide details.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced in January 2010 it would ban exports to Iraq and Afghanistan of the ADE651 device. It is shaped like a pistol and features a swivelling antenna meant to point at explosives.
Iraqi lawmakers demanded security forces stop using them and that the government try to get its money back.
But some Iraqi officials have defended them, saying they have detected many bombs and munitions stockpiles.
Investigation revealed that Jabiri recommended that Iraq sign five contracts to supply security forces with the detectors for between 23,548.37 pounds and 34,702.86 pounds each even though the real cost of the devices is no more than 61.97 pounds, the senior official said.
The first contract, valued at about 11 million pounds, was signed in January 2007 and will be the first case taken to court, the official said.
"This is one of many cases that Jabiri is linked to regarding the same issue," the official said.
The inspector general of the Interior Ministry, which controls the police, said he investigated the detectors two years ago and found them "inoperative" and costly. He recommended that Iraq should not buy the devices.
(Writing by Suadad al-Salhy; Editing by Jim Loney/Maria Golovnina)

[Carl-NC]

KT, please drop your accusations against Ivconic... I see no evidence that he has anything but contempt for LRLs. Further accusations will be deleted and you will risk a "cooling off" vacation from Geotech.

You've made perfectly clear that you oppose any discussions of LRLs on Geotech. For now they stay, so ignore this part of the forums and move on with discussions of real technology.

- Carl

[Geo]

Originally Posted by Carl-NC

KT, please drop your accusations against Ivconic... I see no evidence that he has anything but contempt for LRLs. Further accusations will be deleted and you will risk a "cooling off" vacation from Geotech.

You've made perfectly clear that you oppose any discussions of LRLs on Geotech. For now they stay, so ignore this part of the forums and move on with discussions of real technology.

- Carl

Thank you Carl that allows for the continuation of this forum

Regards

[Diohuni]

Dear Sir,

I received your email, copied below, about H3Tec’s statements about receipt of a Utah Innovation Award. H3Tec has not been a winner of a Utah Innovation Award. I will contact the company shortly to ask that they correct the references on their website.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Best regards,
Loren

Loren R. Hulse | Partner
STOEL RIVES LLP| 201 S. Main St., Suite 1100 | Salt Lake City, UT 84111-4904
Direct: (801) 578-6978 | Fax: (801) 578-6999

[Qiaozhi]

Originally Posted by Diohuni

Dear Sir,

I received your email, copied below, about H3Tec’s statements about receipt of a Utah Innovation Award. H3Tec has not been a winner of a Utah Innovation Award. I will contact the company shortly to ask that they correct the references on their website.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Best regards,
Loren

Loren R. Hulse | Partner
STOEL RIVES LLP| 201 S. Main St., Suite 1100 | Salt Lake City, UT 84111-4904
Direct: (801) 578-6978 | Fax: (801) 578-6999

Very interesting ... but I wonder where this came from then? ->
.
.

[Diohuni]

Like the stories of military deployment perhaps!

Even if any of their awards are legit, none of them prove the damn thing works! Just based on demos I expect. East to fool people with a demo, but not a proper double blind. Funny, they don't have any of those!!

[Qiaozhi]

OK - I think I see the problem.

Have a look here -> http://www.stoel.com/showrelease.aspx?Show=2401
You will see that H3tec are not listed as winners of the Utah Innovation award, but it appears they may have been in the list of finalists. In fact, on the H3tec website it does actually state "Stoel Rives/Utah Technology councel Innovation Award finalist" and not "winner".
However, they are promoting it as if they did win, by also stating "Utah Best of State 2007".
Those damn marketing guys!

[Qiaozhi]

... and I've just noticed that they spelled "council" incorrectly.

[Qiaozhi]

H3tec also claim to have received an IQ award in 2008, but I don't see that here either ->
http://www.siliconslopes.com/news/di...iq-awards#2008

[Carl-NC]

Originally Posted by Qiaozhi

In fact, on the H3tec website it does actually state "Stoel Rives/Utah Technology councel Innovation Award finalist" and not "winner".

You have to pay attention to what they used to say:

[Qiaozhi]

Originally Posted by Carl-NC

You have to pay attention to what they used to say:

So it appears they've recently updated their website to correct the error?

[Carl-NC]

Originally Posted by Qiaozhi

So it appears they've recently updated their website to correct the error?

Yes, except they left the "error" on another web page, below. Also note the fine photo of Chuckie and Kathy holding those artifacts, with no mention that the artifacts were found with an H3. That was not an oversight.

[Rudy]

Is the Utah District Attorney so busy prosecuting other matters that he has no time to put these bums out of business?

[J_Player]

Originally Posted by Rudy

Is the Utah District Attorney so busy prosecuting other matters that he has no time to put these bums out of business?

Hi Rudy,
After watching the events involving previous magic wand detectors being sold as military bomb detectors, I have concluded there is no time shortage problem for the Utah judicial department to prosecute K3Tec. It appears to me the Utah Justice Department has decided not to prosecute H3Tec for political reasons that are driven by money.

Some government departments like scams
If we look at what happened with the ADE–651, GT-200, Sniffex, and others magic wand bomb detectors, we see they were all sold for a long time before any government action was taken to stop the sellers. Of course, we expect it takes some time for the wheels of justice to come up to speed in these matters. But look at what happened with the ADE-651. The producer of this fake detector was permitted amass a huge fortune before he was finally arrested and the product was partially banned.

Why did this happen?
Was it just an unfortunate oversight in the British legal system?
Why did it take an expose from BBC Newsnight to open the eyes of ordinary people who subsequently demanded something should be done?

Government helps promote scam bomb detectors
Further reading shows the British government was actually helping to promote this fake bomb detector before the demands to ban it threatened to expose their participation. See this BBC Newsnight article titled "UK Government promoted useless bomb detectors" : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ht/9377875.stm

"... the UK government told BBC Newsnight that between 2001 and 2004 a Royal Engineers sales team went around the world demonstrating the GT200, another of the "magic wand" detectors which has been banned for export to Iraq and Afghanistan, at arms fairs around the world even though the British Army did not consider them suitable for its own use.

The government's Department of Trade and Industry, which has since been superseded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, helped two of the manufacturers sell their products in Mexico and the Philippines".

...And they report fake bomb detectors are still being sold all over the world: "At least four rival manufacturers have sold their own versions of these devices and they are now the subject of a major fraud investigation by the City of London police.

... The manufacturer of another of the devices, the Alpha 6, has admitted to Newsnight that they make them for £11 and then they are sold for £15,000 each to the end user".

Why would the government help sell fake bomb detectors?
Let's take a step back and look at the money trail...
Forget about who's wallets are getting greased. At a higher level, a decision was made to get the government involved in selling these devices.
The idea was to promote business in a difficult economy. This helps the government by improving their tax revenues.
So what if people die in the process... it wouldn't happen in their country.
Fortunately, the British people didn't feel that way once they found out what was going on.
We have people such as the reporters at BBC Newsnight to thank that something was finally done.
Yet we see there are still similar dowsing rod bomb detectors being demonstrated and sold from the UK.
What happened?
Did some government officials discover people stopped watching so closely since the recent arrest and banning of fake detectors?

But what about H3Tec?
They don't sell bomb detectors to the military.
... or do they?



Charles Christenson (CEO of H3Tec) is listed in the Cambridge Who's Who, which shows the highlights of his career: "The highlights of his career included being a part of the development team for the PAM II D Apogee Kick Motor, being involved in the deployment of the first H3 element detector in the Middle East to protect the Armed Forces, drilling his first oil well with success, starting a large gold mining prospect based on the H3 subsurface mapping system, and discovering his first Spanish galleon". But people say that is a fake photo and fake propaganda made by H3Tec to fool people into thinking the military uses their fake detectors. The only real evidence I have read shows they are selling their junk to treasure hunters.

So why doesn't the Utah Attorney General stop H3Tec?
Is the State of Utah also trying to promote local business?
Maybe they figure these fake detectors are only being sold to treasure hunters, so nobody will be hurt except some deluded treasure hunters. Maybe they figure the sales of H3Tec "Treasure Tricorders" will help to protect treasures in the state of Utah by frustrating treasure hunters and making them poor, while improving tax revenues.
Or maybe they figure most of the H3Tec products will be exported to other places and will bring money in from outside the state.

Maybe H3Tec is not big enough for the Utah Attorney General.
Maybe the Weber County District Attorney would care. Or maybe the Ogden City Attorney?
They all have jurisdiction, but the local City and County Attorneys have a bigger stake in local profiteering.
Is this why nobody in Utah wants to prosecute them?

If the H3Tec scam is good for business, then the Utah government will help them promote this scam...
Utah has the same idea as the UK for promoting business.
Instead of a Department of Business Innovation and Skills, Utah has a Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) which promotes H3Tec.
Who cares if the company is selling fake detectors...
they are bringing money into the state.
Take a look at how the Utah Governor's office describes H3Tec... http://www.utahpulse.com/featured_ar...tlights-h3-tec

It makes me wonder --- has nobody complained?
I suppose we made a lot of noise here in Geotech.
And we can read other complaints here: http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/...espondent.html
And here: http://sniffexquestions.blogspot.com/search?q=h3tec
And here: http://community.discovery.com/eve/f...?r=64519144001
And here: http://ade651gt200scamfraud.blogspot...-at-h3tec.html
And here: http://explosivedetectorfrauds.blogspot.com/
And here: http://gpex.ca/smf/index.php?topic=2663.10
And here: http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/ar...tectors-11030/
And here: http://www.defenceiq.com/questions/-0-/
And here: http://www.psaxtiria.net/forum/showthread.php?p=52686
And here: http://www.thunting.com/smf/black_bo...-t21701.0.html
And here: http://exijamosloimposible.blogspot....para-nada.html
And here: http://lius4u5.deviantart.com/art/De...-200-163395799
And a lot more websites...

What does it take to get the Justice Department involved in Utah?
The government will not stop the scam until someone points the finger at them as promoters of the scam!
The most influential persons behind the scenes at this time are Randi, Carl-NC, and diohuni, who have actually taken steps to put a stop to the H3Tec and other fake bomb detectors. Congratulations to Carl, and especially to diohuni who has contacted State Authorities in Utah, FBI, DOD, Utah media, and any related business contacts e.g. awards they claim, sponsors of those awards, associates of H3Tec and the Christensens to try to put a stop to this fake detector fraud.
And lets not forget to point our fingers at forum members such as hung and Art3811 who promoted this trash while we put out the word that it is a fraud.
Maybe some media coverage is needed to make H3Tec as famous as the ADE-651 fake detectors.


Will the State of Utah continue to pretend this is another fine product they are promoting in their state?
Or will they wait until they are exposed to the world as promoters of fake detectors that don't work?


Best wishes,
J_P

[Rudy]

JP, Thanks for your well thought out and beautifully researched answer.

I do hope that Carl et al are able to light a fire under some bureaucrat and get them moving.

On my part, I made inquiries with a friend that retired from the DoD and who was involved in procurements and contracts. So far, he has been unable to find anyone who participated in procuring any H3Tec for the US Army. I believe that story is horse pucky.

[coae]

I have found over the internet the ATSC LTD website. Which is an explosives detector.
What do you think about that?

[WM6]

Originally Posted by coae

I have found over the internet the ATSC LTD website. Which is an explosives detector.
What do you think about that?

Buy one and go de-mining with it - You will become rich man (probably without legs but this is not ATSC concern).

[Geo]

I fear that you are a hypocrites.
You have problem with the failure of H3 and completely ignores the bombing of Libya.
Yesterday was Yugoslavia, now Libya, Greece tomorrow, the next day Turkey, etc
And your problem will be always the H3 or the dowsing method!!!!
What to say?????

[J_Player]

Originally Posted by coae

I have found over the internet the ATSC LTD website. Which is an explosives detector.
What do you think about that?

ATSC is the company headed by Jim McCormick who produces the ADE 651 fake bomb detector. This is the same Jim McCormick who was arrested and the ADE 651 was banned from being exported from the UK to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Apparently there is no law which prohibits advertising the ADE651 on a web page, as long as none of them are exported from the UK to Iraq or Afghanistan. If you read the web page link to contact them, you will see they do not say where they are located. I suspect they relocated their business office and shipping department outside the UK. This would keep them free of the prohibition to export these fake bomb detectors from the UK.

There are also several other counties which placed bans on importing the ADE651 to their country after seeing them fail to detect explosives.
But it appears there are not many restrictions which stop this company from producing and selling the ADE651.
The biggest deterrent in their path is the general knowledge people have from watching news coverage which shows that they are fake detectors.

You can look at the wikipedia page to learn the basic facts and events that followed the ATSC company, Jim McCormick and the ADE651 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651
You will read how many explosives and military experts all over the world refused to allow the ADE651 to be used in their country, and how several tests showed explosives could easily get past the guards using the ADE651.
You will also read about the news coverage which helped to spread the word to the general public that these dowsing rods do not work to keep them safe from explosives.

You will see at the bottom of that page, they list several similar devices being marketed in various countries, which include:
HEDD1 (formerly known as Sniffex Plus), marketed by Unival in Germany
Alpha 6, marketed by ComsTrac in the UK
PSD-22
and H3Tec.

What I think about this is the same as what I thought about it when I answered Rudy's post above.
Government justice departments are not very anxious to stop the producers of the ADE651 or other similar products.
Why?
Because the the places where these fake detectors are sold from are seeing profits which improve thier tax revenues.
And officials who buy them for their country receive substantial bribes which improve their personal estate.
You can read in the Wikipedia page how Iraq officials are currently investigating corruption surrounding the sale of ADE651 fake bomb detectors to their military.

Best wishes,
J_P

[Qiaozhi]

Originally Posted by coae

I have found over the internet the ATSC LTD website. Which is an explosives detector.
What do you think about that?

If you type "ATSC" into the search function on Geotech, you will see that it has been discussed here many times already.

[J_Player]

Originally Posted by Geo

I fear that you are a hypocrites.
You have problem with the failure of H3 and completely ignores the bombing of Libya.
Yesterday was Yugoslavia, now Libya, Greece tomorrow, the next day Turkey, etc
And your problem will be always the H3 or the dowsing method!!!!
What to say?????

Hi Geo,
You are wrong.
There is nothing wrong with the dowsing method as long as you are using it for your own personal use.
But when you force others to make their life depend on someone else's dowsing, then it is absolutely wrong.

Suppose I told you I can dowse because you convinced me I can. Then I told you I dowsed, and I used both an H3Tec and an ADE651 to make sure the mine field has no mines in it.
Would it be ok if you are now forced to plow the minefield and plant vegetables there?
All scientific testing on dowsing shows it cannot be relied on to protect people's lives from bombs.
Electronic bomb detectors are supposed to detect bombs. And these ones do not.

The sale of fake electronic bomb detectors has nothing to do with the fact that there are more bombings as time goes on.
We are a metal detecting forum that focuses on locating metals and other substances, not a forum that specializes in political activity to stop bombings.
This is why we continue to be focused on the problems of fake bomb detectors -- not the problems of world politics.

Best wishes,
J_P

[kt315]

This is why we continue to be focused on the problems of fake bomb detectors -- not the problems of world politics.

seems a problem of fake bomb detectors is big brother bombs countries not having atomic bombs. then big brother offers them to buy the bomb detectors and gets big money. this $$$ monster deeply needs in blood and money. politics here on every step, my friend. this site is politic. this forum is politic. EVERY forum is politic. so you are not right, misleaded or simply shamed by idiot.

[J_Player]

Originally Posted by kt315

This is why we continue to be focused on the problems of fake bomb detectors -- not the problems of world politics.

seems a problem of fake bomb detectors is big brother bombs countries not having atomic bombs. then big brother offers them to buy the bomb detectors and gets big money. this $$$ monster deeply needs in blood and money. politics here on every step, my friend. this site is politic. this forum is politic. EVERY forum is politic. so you are not right, misleaded or simply shamed by idiot.

I have only seen two or three people posting in this forum who would like to change it to a forum of world politics. It appears you are one of these people. The majority of people who come to post at geotech are more interested in discussing geotechnical things and do not want to convert this to a forum dedicated to world politics and censorship. You can read here to see what happened to your last attempt to make it a political forum and censor what is permitted in the Geotech forums: http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16742

Do you really believe there are more than a two or three people besides you who want to change this forum to ban all discussions of long range locators, and only allow discussions that promote your view of world politics instead?

You could scroll up and read Carl's warning to you:

Originally Posted by Carl-NC

You've made perfectly clear that you oppose any discussions of LRLs on Geotech. For now they stay, so ignore this part of the forums and move on with discussions of real technology.

- Carl

Best wishes,
J_P

[kt315]

last attempt to make it a political forum

trollizm. sounds you are clear un-political troll.

[Rudy]

Originally Posted by coae

I have found over the internet the ATSC LTD website. Which is an explosives detector.
What do you think about that?

Why are you going around to all the metal detecting forums posting the identical message?
Are you a troll?