BANGKOK, Thailand — An imprisoned Lebanese-Swedish terror suspect said he stockpiled medical “cool packs” which “contained ammonia” for commerical export, and is not a Hezbollah member, after being arrested for possessing 10 gallons (38 liters) of ammonium nitrate which can be used to build bombs.
Ammonia nitrate can be extracted from some cool packs, which are usually plastic bags containing chemicals that maintain a cold temperature after being refrigerated, and can be used for cooling medicine, food, physical aches and other purposes.
His rented building held 4.8 tons (4,380 kilograms) of urea fertilizer, 10 gallons (38 liters) of liquid ammonium nitrate, and 400 electric table fans in cardboard boxes, police told reporters.
“Carefully cut the cold pack open with a exacto knife or razor blade,” said an “anonymous” poster on a California-based, question-and-answer website, when “kuyakev” asked how to extract ammonia nitrate from a cool pack.
“The ammonium nitrate is in little pellets, that will begin to come out,” the poster said in a reply which could not be independently confirmed.
Police charged Mr. Atris with illegal possession ammonium nitrate — which requires a Thai government permit.
Ammonium nitrate, together with fertilizer and other items, can be used to build a bomb.
In the U.S., for example, ammonia nitrate was used in the 1995 Okalahoma City bombing.
“We have never dealt with chemical fertilizers. It must have been placed in our store room by someone, probably the Mossad,” he said, referring to Israel’s secret service.
The description by Thai police of the building’s contents included “enough materials to construct several truck bombs comparable to the one detonated at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008,” which killed at least 40 people, according to the Texas-based, intelligence analysis website Stratfor in its report on Thursday (January 19) titled “A Hezbollah Threat in Thailand?”
“The largest vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in recent history have contained about a ton of fertilizer,” Stratfor reported, speculating on the potential use of the 4.8 tons (9,656 pounds or 4,380 kilograms) allegedly found in Mr. Atris’s building.
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