Breaking: Gas Attack in Russian Store
Charles Johnson
Mon Dec 26, 2005 at 9:50 am PST • Views: 319
Gas Sickens 78 in Russian Store. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - More than 70 people at a home-supply store were sickened Monday as employees at three other outlets of the chain found gas-filled containers and timers hidden in boxes. Police said they believed a commercial dispute or blackmail attempt was behind the incidents.
A custodian at a branch of the Maksidom home-supplies chain found a suspicious box before the store’s opening and saw ampules attached to wires and a timer when she opened it, said Vyacheslav Stepchenko, a spokesman for the St. Petersburg police. The woman inadvertently broke one of the ampules and noticed a bad smell, but was not sickened, he said.
Similar boxes with glass containers attached to timers were found in two other stores by employees, who carried them outside and covered them with buckets; police defused them, he said.
The AP’s story is suspiciously quick with the assertion that this was a “blackmail” attempt. There’s plenty of organized crime in Russia, but there’s also a very active jihad.
Frank says: