Jamming devices foiled terrorist plots

The bombs that blew up commuter trains in Spain in March 2004, as well as blasts in Bali in October 2002 and Jakarta in August 2003, all relied on cell phones to trigger explosives. It has been widely reported that a cell phone jammer thwarted an assassination attempt on Pakistani President Musharraf in December 2003.

When President Bush visited London in November 2004, it was reported that British police considered using jammers to protect the president’s motorcade through London.

During a hostage situation, police can control when and where a captor can make a phone call. Police can block phone calls during a drug raid so suspects can’t communicate outside the area.

Cell-phone signal jammer can be used in areas where radio transmissions are dangerous, (areas with a potentially explosive atmosphere), such as chemical storage facilities or grain elevators.

Ch Supt Gavin Thomas, the president of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales, suggested in an interview that wifi jammers – devices worn on the ankle or wrist to block the internet – could serve as a smarter punishment for cybercrimes than prison. “We have got to stop using 19th-century punishments to deal with 21st-century crimes,” he said.

New function – maintain order in meeting place

Swiss police were pictured this week in Davos testing anti-drone jammers, which resemble massive machine guns, as part of security preparations for the World Economic Forum. The annual gathering of members of the world’s business and political elite has brought more than 3,000 attendees to the skiing resort.

In Davos, police were testing to make sure the equipment was ready and able to take down any drones potentially carrying out covert missions, said Steffen Wicker, managing director