Comprehension Passages
Website may be key to Robbery
Break-in at West Rand school may be linked to site detailing how bombs are made
BY GILL GIFFORD Crime Reporter for The Star
An Internet site detailing how home-made bombs, "vomit gas" and weapons are made may be the key to a break-in at a West Rand high school laboratory. Honeydew police called out to the school (which requested not to be identified) on Monday morning following a weekend break-in, believing the chemicals stolen may be intended for the manufacture of homemade explosives.
West Rand police spokesperson Inspector Herman Esterhuizen said detectives were taken to the laboratory by the acting headmaster. Housebreakers had forced open the door and stolen various chemicals. "It is suspected that the chemicals might be used in recipes downloaded from the Internet to manufacture explosives or bombs," he said.
Esterhuizen said that on Friday a teacher from the school had caught two Grade 8 pupils trying to explode a mini gas lantern.
The pupils claimed they had downloaded the information complete with full instructions on the explosion procedure, from the Internet.
Esterhuizen said detectives were investigating the case as a standard housebreaking, but had made no arrests. He said the school wanted to handle the case internally. The school's acting principal yesterday refused to comment on the case. "We have been inundated with calls and we don't appreciate it," an employee of the school said.
The name of the Internet site downloaded by the pupils is known to The Star, but cannot be published.
The terrifying information is easy to access.
"How would you like to know bow to manufacture high-powered, one-inch bore bazookas out of materials easily available from popular stores in your community? "
"What about dense smoke bombs capable of filling an area equal to a city block with dense white smoke?"
"Learn the tricks of the trade that only elite marines, and secret army corps know, like how to make improvised land mines out of shotgun shells, powerful impact bombs and gases like real teargas, vomit gas and laughing gas," reads the site's banner page.
The site offers 1 800 documents on how to make bombs, explosives, weapons, drugs and alcohol, as well us information on lock-picking and forced entry, hand-to-hand combat and fraud.
Questions
- Find synonyms from the passage for the following words:
- information retrieved electronically
- crack, first-rate
- thick
- done without prior planning
(4)
- Say what the following idiomatic phrases mean:
- to be "inundated with calls" (paragraph 3)
- "the tricks of the trade" (paragraph 6)
- "hand-to-hand combat" (paragraph 7)
(3)
- Explain why The Star in paragraph 4 is in italics.
(2)
- Why is "vomit gas" in paragraph 1 inside inverted commas?
(2)
- Suggest two reasons why the acting-principal refused to comment on the case.
(2)
- In your own words describe the contents of the website being talked about.
(3)
- What evidence is there that links the robbery to the website?
(2)
- Why do you think The Star is not publishing the address of the website?
(2)
Total
(20)
