Geek Guide: I spy — with more than my little eye!

Are you fascinated by James Bond’s grenade camouflaged as a ballpoint pen and Ethan Hunt’s face masks in the Mission Impossible series? If yes, then gear up to learn more about real-life espionage devices.  Espionage gadgets are not merely a figment of Hollywood fantasy; in fact they have been actually used by real life undercover agents, often for deadly operations. 

Here’s a peak into some rather innovative paraphernalia, which has been used by secret agents and militaries in the past.

The deadly sting

Don’t get fooled by this umbrella’s banal appearance. With a tip that shoots a tiny pellet of deadly poison, this device is designed to kill in the most surreptitious manner. In 1978, famous Bulgarian anti-communist dissident Georgie Markov, renowned for his harsh criticism of the autocratic Bulgarian regime, was jabbed by a KGB agent with an umbrella while queuing up for a bus in London. The incident looked like an accident and the famous journalist did not realise that an assassin had injected him with a pellet filled with ricin — a highly toxic natural protein which is impossible to trace.  Markov subsequently died of blood poisoning but the details of his murder remain shrouded in mystery to date.

Sn(p)oop tool

How do you make T-1151 radio transmitters look as inconspicuous as possible? By disguising them as animal droppings. Just below four inches in length and with peat moss crusted shells, the Doo transmitter effectively relays radio messages. Initially developed by United States military intelligence in 1970, these gadgets were camouflaged as dog or monkey faeces and placed throughout Vietnam’s jungles during the Vietnam War to identify key enemy positions to overhead aircraft for reconnaissance or strikes.

Source: msnbc.msn.com

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2011.