Dissidents (Dissidents? )were flasking for it!
Wound-up al-Qaida man bomb-hoaxes inmatesBy Alan Murray
08 January 2006
A CONVICTED al-Qaida terrorist turned the tables on republican wind-up merchants at Maghaberry Prison - by terrifying them with a fake bomb!
Dissident republicans have blamed Algerian bomb maker 'Abbas Boutrab' for a major security alert at the jail last week.
They claim he handed one of them a vacuum flask and warned it would explode if he took his hand off it.
The republicans raised the alarm, alleging Boutrab had warned the flask contained a pressure switch that would trigger an explosion if released.
Jail sources claim batteries were strapped around the outside of the flask.
They revealed that Army bomb disposal experts called to the scene initially taped the suspect device to the frightened man's hand while they examined it.
The Algerian, who used the fake identity Abbas Boutrab to enter the UK and settle in Newtownabbey, has a reputation as a skilled bomb-maker.
A prison officer told Sunday Life: "They [the Army bomb experts] weren't taking any chances because of what the FBI said in court about Abbas's expertise to make bombs from everyday ingredients.
"The republican was taped to the flask while the bomb disposal team used their equipment to x-ray it before declaring it safe."
The source added: "He [Boutrab] really took the hand out of the republicans.
"They'd been winding him up for weeks and he was getting his own back on them.
"There was no bomb and no pressure switch or plate, but they fell for it and they're the laughing stock of the jail."
The republicans claimed Boutrab had taken revenge following an argument they had with him.
During his trial in Belfast, an FBI explosives expert told how Boutrab made a detonator using a capacitor from a disposable camera, tungsten wire and lead oxide.
He said that with potassium chlorate, sulphur and sugar, a device could be made that would bring down an airliner.
It's understood that Boutrab bought three vacuum flasks from the Maghaberry tuck shop and a search is being carried out for the other two.
However, a senior prison service source added they had not ruled out the possibility that republicans were behind the hoax themselves.
"The story they're telling makes Boutrab out to be the author of the hoax bomb, but we're not ruling out the possibility that they concocted this whole incident and are blaming the al-Qaida man".
www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=675098