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| After letter bombs a mail missile |
By:
Vmalayalee |
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Most of us are familiar with letter bombs, those deadly parcels which killed or maimed their unfortunate recipients when opened, a favourite tool of terrorist outfits during the 80's and 90's. But here is a case of a lethal parcel which could have killed and maimed hundreds if mishandled, arriving as a perfectly normal non-dangerous merchandise in the UK from the Afghan war front.
In a shocking revelation in response to a Freedom of Information Request, senior officials from the Ministry of Defence have admitted a serious safety lapse when a powerful missile made its way from Afghanistan to Britain by ordinary post. The 70mm Flechette rocket travelled 3,500 miles, from Afghanistan to the Wattisham airfield in Suffolk as an ordinary parcel with handlers along the way not aware of the deadly potential of the parcel they were handling.
The incident is said to have happened two years ago when RAF Engineers servicing a gunship chopper at Camp Bastion in the Afghan war front noticed that its rocket launcher had broken down and sent it to the home base for repairs, which was perfectly okay. What they apparently did not notice was that the rocket launcher was mounted with a powerful missile and failed to dismount it before dispatching the launcher for repairs. As a result of this oversight the powerful missile used in Apache strike helicopters as a deadly arsenal was sent as a non-dangerous item all the way to the UK.
The Parcel is believed to have caused a flutter at the Wattisham Airfield at Suffolk where it was opened and over 70 defence workers had to be evacuated to safety when its identity became known. An inquiry into the lapse quite naturally found it as a 'wholly avoidable' incident. A Ministry of Defence Spokeswoman commented that efforts were made to address certain procedural shortfalls highlighted by the lapse and there have not been any repeats of such lapses after that.
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