Bomb ingredients sold together on Amazon
AMAZON was last night accused of aiding bomb makers as the former head of the CIA said that social media companies must take a share of the blame for the Parsons Green bucket bomb.
The online retail giant was found to group key bomb components under the “frequently bought together” tab. Although many of the ingredients are innocent on their own, together they can be used to create explosives.
When buying a certain chemical on Amazon the ingredients to make black powder are offered. The “customers also bought tab” also offered steel ball bearings, push-button switches and battery connectors and cables.
Ignition systems and remote detonators are also available on the website, it was found in a Channel 4 investigation which questioned why Amazon should be making bomb components available.
A report was also released yesterday in which Gen David Petraeus, the former CIA chief, said Google, Twitter and Facebook were failing to tackle online extremism as it emerged jihadist content gets more traffic in Britain than any other European country. Gen Pe- traeus, who wrote the forward to a Policy Exchange report calling for a new regulator with the power to fine companies, said last week’s attack “merely underscored once again the ever-present nature of this threat” as the device could be built from instructions online.
He added: “Social media platforms, internet service providers and other tech companies clearly have central roles to play in the effort to counter extremist groups in cyberspace ... I think it is fair to ask whether their efforts
to-date have been commensurate with the scale of the challenge.”
Last night police were granted extra time to question the 18-year-old suspected of planting the bucket bomb and Yahyah Farroukh, 21, who had been fostered by the same couple in Sunbury-on-thames, Surrey.
It was claimed that the teenager, believed to be an Iraqi refugee, was regularly visited by police. Sources said his foster mother, Penny Jones, had asked for him to be rehoused, saying: “I can’t deal with him anymore.” She told friends he was “extremely difficult”, becoming angry every time he saw news on Iraq. The disclosures raise questions over why a youth with such a troubled background was placed with Mrs Jones, 71, and her husband Ron, 88. Surrey County Council has yet to respond to a request for comment.
CCTV footage has emerged which appears to show a man struggling to carry a Lidl shopping bag along Vicarage Road, Sunbury, at around 7am on Friday. An hour and 20 minutes later a Lidl bag with a bucket and a homemade device inside partially detonated at Parsons Green, injuring 30 people.
The 18-year-old was arrested at Dover on Saturday. Later that night Mr Farroukh, a Syrian refugee who came to Britain in 2013, was held in Hounslow. Police searched his home in Stanwell, Surrey. Scotland Yard said last night that magistrates had granted warrants allowing the 18-year-old to be held until Saturday and Mr Farroukh until Thursday.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment but a spokesman for Facebook said the company is committed to fighting online extremism and works “aggressively to remove terrorist content” as soon as it becomes aware of it.
A Google spokesman said: “We are committed to being part of the solution.” Twitter says terrorist content has no place on its platform.
Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, said: “Internet bosses need to go further and faster to remove terrorist content.”