PETN: Heart medicine and a favourite terror ingredient

A lethal cocktail of chemical pentaerythritol trinitrate or PETN used for heart ailments to smoothen blood flow and nitrate-based explosives was used by terrorists today to carry out the blast at Delhi High Court premises.

The chemical which was discovered by German forces in World War-I has become a favourite terror toy in the hands of organisations like Lashker-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Al-Qaeda which have used it globally to cause mayhem.

PETN, which has become popular over the years because it does not get easily detected, is not used in isolation but is laced with more volatile explosives like Ammonium Nitrate or Potassium Nitrate to increase the intensity of the blast.

The chemical normally used as vasodilator in the medical field gained notoriety in India between 2003-05 when militants in Jammu and Kashmir used it in many of their attacks with most deadly being a car bombing in Pattan, North Kashmir in 2003.

In last year's blast in Varanasi the use of PETN was suspected by investigative agencies.

Globally, the chemical was used in the infamous "shoe bomber" case in 2001 when Al-Qaeda member Richard Reid, hid it in the sole of his sneaker in his unsuccessful attempt to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami.

On December 25, 2009, the chemical was used by "Christmas Day Bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who made an unsuccessful attempt to detonate the explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan.

Two PETN filled printer cartridges were found in October 2010 on a cargo plane at East Midlands Airport and in Dubai on US-bound flights.