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A ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Newsnight investigation has found that a so-called "bomb detector", thousands of which have been sold to Iraq, cannot possibly work.

Leading explosives expert Sidney Alford told Newsnight the sale of the ADE-651 hand-held detector was "absolutely immoral".

"This type of equipment does not work," he says. "I wouldn't mind betting that lives have been lost as a consequence."

Following three recent co-ordinated waves of bombings in Baghdad questions have been raised over the ADE-651 hand-held detectors now used at most checkpoints in Baghdad.

No Western government uses the ADE-651 but it has been sold to a range of Middle Eastern countries and as far afield as Bangkok.

Iraq has bought thousands of the detectors for a total of $85m (£52m), paying around $40,000 for each device.

The device is sold by Jim McCormick, based at offices in rural Somerset, UK.

The ADE-651 detector has never been shown to work in a scientific test. There are no batteries and it consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip.

Critics have likened it to a glorified dowsing rod.

Mr McCormick told the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ in a previous interview that "the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar".

He says that the key to it is the black box connected to the aerial into which you put "programmed substance detection cards", each "designed to tune into" the frequency of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.

He claims that in ideal conditions you can detect explosives from a range of up to one kilometre.

The training manual for the device says it can even, with the right card, detect elephants, humans and 100 dollar bills.

Newsnight obtained a set of cards for the ADE-651 and took them to Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory where Dr Markus Kuhn dissected a card supposed to detect TNT.

It contained nothing but the type of anti-theft tag used to prevent stealing in high street stores.

Dr Kuhn says it was "impossible" that it could detect anything at all and that the card had "absolutely nothing to do with the detection of TNT".

"There is nothing to program in these cards. There is no memory. There is no microcontroller. There is no way any form of information can be stored," he adds.

The tags which are supposed to be the heart of such an expensive system cost around two to three pence.

"These are the cheapest bit of electronics that you can get that look vaguely electronic and are sufficiently flat to fit inside a card," says Dr Kuhn.

The promotional material for the ADE-651 claims it is powered only by the user's static electricity.

Explosives expert Mr Alford says that he is "horrified" that the device is being exported from the UK.

"It could result in people being killed in the dozens, if not hundreds," he says.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has learned that, following the December bombings, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered an investigation into the bomb detectors, expected to report any day now.

Concern over the use of dowsing rods to detect bombs was first raised by American sceptic James Randi.

In 1995, the Sandia national labs and the FBI raised the alarm over a dowsing rod device called the Quadro Tracker which they described as "a fraud" and the FBI warned: "All agencies should immediately cease using the device."

In 1999, the FBI put out another alert: "Warning. Do not use bogus explosives detection devices."

In 2002, a test by Sandia labs in the US found that a similar dowsing rod device, called the Mole detector, did not work and performed "no better than a random selection process".

They concluded that it did not work and that it looked "nearly identical" to the Quadro Tracker.

Last month, a senior Iraqi officer involved in bomb-prevention defended the ADE-651.

Major General Jehad al-Jabiri, who appeared at a press conference with Mr McCormick following the December explosions, said he did not "care about Sandia" and knew more about bombs than the Americans: "Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs," he said.

And policemen manning checkpoints in Baghdad have told the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ that you need to be relaxed to use the ADE-651 and that it does not work properly if the user is stressed or has a high heart rate.

In other words, the message which has got through to the frontlines is – if it does not work, blame the operator not the device.

Mr McCormick declined our request to interview him for this report, but late last year he told the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ that he has been selling products like the ADE-651 for over a decade and that he has sold 6,000 of them to around 20 countries.

Lou McGrath, Chief Executive of the charity Mines Awareness Group, told Newsnight: "For a British company to be selling a piece of technology that is useless when it's meant to be saving lives is abhorrent."

Notes to Editors

Any use of information in this release must credit ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Newsnight.

Watch Caroline Hawley's full report on Newsnight on Friday 22 January 2010 at 10.30pm, then afterwards on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer and bbc.co.uk/newsnight.

PH