Semtex Theft in France Goes Unreported in U.S.

Today, I recognized an instance of life imitating art in my corner of the world and thought it worth sharing with a world engaged in a Global War on Terror.

I was one-third of the way through ACT OF TREASON, the latest terror-action novel by Vince Flynn, when I came across a BBC News article about a case of theft in France that has, thusfar, garnered no attention from U.S. news media. The article caught my attention for two primary reasons:

First, it caught my attention, because it highlighted news from France that more than 60 pounds of Semtex explosive — and detonators, I might add — are missing from a depot in the suburbs of the city of Lyon; and

Second, it caught my attention, because the stolen explosive agent is the same type Flynn put into the hands of the fictitious assassin in his book. In turn, that assassin used it in an attempt to wipe out a motorcade of high-ranking politicos in Washington, D.C.

If you’re not familiar with Semtex, I have two descriptions to offer.

The first comes in the form of one paragraph from the BBC News article:

Semtex is a powerful explosive favoured by terrorist groups as it is odourless and difficult to detect.

The second, appearing on page 28 of the hardcover version of Flynn’s book, describes how a shaped charge of Semtex placed in the cargo area of a minivan is more than capable of defeating the protective shell of an armored limousine as long as it is detonated at the right moment:

The second limousine did not fare as well. The front third of the vehicle collapsed under the blast and exposed Alexander’s wife and three Secret Service agents to the superheated gases of the explosion. All four people were virtually incinerated. Fifteen other individuals were also killed, and another thirty-four were wounded, seven of them critically.

Again, almost four full days have passed since BBC News published the article about the Semtex theft in France. And I have only 300 pages to go in the book. Life imitating art. Hmm.

-- Bob McCarty Writes