"Deadly Decoys: Cell Phone Guns Discovered"

December 6, 2000

Deadly Decoys
Cell Phone Guns Discovered
By Lucrezia Cuen
ABC News


L O N D O N, Dec. 6 — At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone —
same size, same shape, same overall appearance.

     But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol — a phone gun
capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the
otherwise standard keypad.

     European law enforcement officials — stunned by the discovery of these
deadly decoys — say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in
Europe.

     “We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German
Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a
person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”

     Although cell phone guns have not hit America yet, the FBI, the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Customs Service say they’ve
been briefed on the new weapons.

     “This criminal invention represents a potentially serious threat to law
enforcement and the public,” said U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond
W. Kelly.

     “We received word about these guns last month. We have since alerted
our field personnel to be on the lookout for ‘cell phone guns’ at U.S. ports
of entry.”

Guns on the Move

These new covert guns were first discovered in October when Dutch police
stumbled on a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam.

     In another recent incident a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting
to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe.

     Police say both shipments are believed to have originated in
Yugoslavia.

     Interpol sent out a warning to law enforcement agencies around the
world.

     European border police and customs officers are at a heightened state
of alert at all ports, airports and border crossings.

Realistic Appearance

‘If you didn’t know they were guns, you wouldn’t suspect anything,” said Ari
Zandbergen, spokesman for the Amsterdam police.

     “Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that they are
heavier,” says Birgit Heib of the German Federal Criminal Investigation
Agency.

     The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half. The .22-caliber
rounds fit into the top of the phone under the screen. The lower half, under
the keyboard, holds the firing pins. The bullets fire through the antenna by
pressing the keypad from numbers five to eight.

     Amsterdam police says they are very sophisticated machines constructed
inside gutted cell phones which do not light up or operate as real phones.

     “These are very difficult to make. We believe experts are involved,”
says Zandbergen.

America on Alert

U.S. authorities, including the FBI, ATF, Federal Aviation Administration
and the U.S. Customs Service Authority have been supplied detailed
information and pictures of these new weapons.

     “They’ve been given a heads up,” said Jim Crandall, ATF spokesman.

     To date no phone guns have been discovered either in the United States
or in the process of being smuggled in, authorities say. But they know it’s
only a matter of time.

     FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said airport security officers had been
trained to deal with this new threat.

     “We don’t want to tell the bad guys exactly what we’re looking for,”
she says, “We are trying to stay one step ahead.”

Will Affect Travelers

Airport authorities across Europe are implementing systems to X-ray all cell
phones, those procedures will likely be followed by airports around the
world.

     “This is just one more item that we need to pay special attention to
because nowadays, of course just about every passenger carries a mobile
phone,” says the spokesman for Frankfurt airport security.

     Customs officials in the U.S. say their safety procedure has normally
been to require travelers to turn their phones on, however that may no
longer be enough. Cell phone users will have to be made aware that reaching
for their phones in some circumstances could be misinterpreted as a threat
by authorities.

Attached Photo:

Hitting the 5, 6, 7 and 8 buttons on the phone gun fires four .22- caliber
rounds in quick succession.

gun_phone.jpg