Researchers hope to sniff out homemade bomb factories

Terrorists attempting to make homemade explosives could be sniffed out by law enforcement officials with a new mobile detection system being developed through an EU-funded research programme.

Researchers involved with the €4.3m LOTUS (Localisation of threat substances in urban society) project claim such detection technology could have prevented catastrophes such as London’s 7/7 bombings five years ago.

The pan-European team, which is coordinated by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), envision the possibility of installing explosive detection systems atop police vehicles that would effectively monitor urban areas for possible bomb-making activities while on normal patrol.

The system’s sensors would be able to detect whether elevated levels of suspicious  substances are in the area and then use integrated GPS technology to record the time and location the molecules are being emitted from. This information would then be sent through a wireless network to a server administered by the police.

Dr Henric Östmark, head of steering committee for the LOTUS project, said the sensors they are initially testing will be sensitive to hydrogen peroxide, which was the main chemical used in the 7/7 bombs.