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APEC security fear: Who's
got the rocket launchers?
John Lyons
The
Australian
Wednesday September 5, 2007
WHEN George W. Bush flies into Sydney tonight, one very awkward
question will be in the minds of Australian security staff: where
are the rocket launchers?
The failure to be able to answer that question comes at the end
of one of the most extraordinary searches seen in this country
- involving, at different times, up to 30 officers from ASIO,
the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police.
APEC has always been a deadline to find the weapons - people
don't take rocket launchers to hold up the corner store so whoever
knows where they are is almost certainly prepared to use them
to cause major damage.
(Article continues below)
Twenty world leaders are coming to Sydney for APEC. China's President
Hu Jintao was the first to touch down, in Perth last night, while
George W. Bush arrives in Sydney tonight. Each leader will have
the use of a luxury sedan and a personal porter during their stay.
But the fact that there are nine rocket launchers believed to
be in the vicinity of Sydney as a meeting of world leaders begins
has meant in recent months this operation has become one of the
highest priorities of ASIO.
It is one of the reasons Australian and US security advisers
are insistent that protesters will be at least 300m from the President
at all times.
Theoretically, the launchers can fire from that distance but
an amateur would generally be able to fire them only 125m.
The most worrying aspect of the weapons is that they are concealable
- when folded, they are about 67cm, which means they can fit into
a backpack. They can be painted any colour to blend with carry
bags.
The M-72 launchers are designed to carry warheads that can cut
through metal with a small hole then explode. The warheads are
designed for a "blast effect". They are often used in
warfare to attack bunkers, as they cause maximum damage.
The nine rocket launchers were in a batch of 10 allegedly stolen
from a private storage facility at Orchard Hills in Sydney's west
in 2002. Security agencies believe they were then placed in PVC
piping and buried in the national park between Sydney and Wollongong.
Various parks around Sydney have been excavated in the search
for the rockets.
This has led to some remarkable scenes: any bushwalkers who came
across the search would have witnessed night-time scenes resembling
a movie set. They would have confronted ASIO and AFP officers
watching the rescue squad of the NSW Police using generators,
lighting equipment and metal detectors.
And as no outside labour was used because of the sensitivity
of the operation, they would have seen police officers digging
with shovels.
Even a specialist dog squad - the Firearms and Explosion Detection
Dogs - has been brought into the forests in the hope of smelling
remnants of the rocket launchers. But the PVC piping has probably
ensured the launchers are giving off no smell and are protected
from soil and water.
The saga has shown a new and disturbing phenomenon - a blurring
of the line between organised crime and religious terrorism. It
began in 2002 when 10 rocket launchers were stolen from an army
base near Sydney (one has been found).
The investigation found that after the launchers were stolen,
they were sold to criminals associated with bikies.
They were then sold to an organised crime gang run by Lebanese
Australians, which sold them to Lebanese Australian Islamic fundamentalists.
Authorities fear such a crime group could be enlisted to supply
weapons to would-be terrorists on a regular basis.
"On this occasion, everyone got what they wanted,"
said a source involved in the investigation. "The crims got
money and the fanatics got weapons."
The pressure to find the weapons has been extraordinary - the
special ASIO/AFP/NSW Police team has frequently been asked about
their success. Their masters have not been happy.
Army ammunitions technician officer Shane Malcolm Della-Vedova,
46, of Wattle Grove, near Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, and former
soldier Dean Steven Taylor, 39, of Mount Annan, in southwest Sydney,
were charged with offences relating to the theft.
The two were arrested in April this year after simultaneous raids
on their homes. Police alleged Della-Vedova sold one of the rocket
launchers in 2003 through a member of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle
gang. The weapon was then allegedly passed on to Sydney gun dealer
Taha Abdul Rahman, of Casula.
One month later, Della-Vedova allegedly sold the remaining rockets
to Rahman, later charged for his role in the deal. He allegedly
sold them to Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who passed
them on to terror suspect Mohammad Elomar.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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