Daily Mail
Sydney
T he “collar bomb” that was strapped to an Australian schoolgirl’s neck contained no explosives and appeared to be part of an “elaborate hoax”, Australian police have revealed.
They said they and the family had no idea as to a motive, but confirmed that 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver had had “previous contact” with the intruder.
In a scene that could have been straight from a Hollywood thriller, bomb squad specialists spent 10 nail-biting hours freeing Pulver from the “bomb-like” device she said had been chained to her neck by a man who entered her home in Mosman, a wealthy Sydney suburb, yesterday afternoon.
But it turned out that the device did not contain explosives.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch said: “A very, very elaborate hoax as it turned out.
“But it was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device.
“We had to treat it seriously until we could prove otherwise and that’s exactly what we did and that’s why it took so long.”
The drama began when Pulver’s family contacted the police saying their daughter had been attacked and there was a strange device attached to her.
Bomb technicians, negotiators and detectives rushed to the scene.
Nearby homes were evacuated, streets were closed and medical and fire crews waited nearby.
Murdoch said: “I hardly think that the elaborate nature and sophistication of this device was the result of someone who picked on someone randomly.
“The offender went to a lot of trouble for a particular reason, but what that reason was, police are still working to determine.”
He also said a note had been left inside the house, but did not release details on what it said.
“There were some instructions left by the offender at the scene and those instructions will provide us with further lines for inquiry. Those instructions also limited us somewhat last night in how quickly we could proceed.
“Certainly the instructions were precise; they were such that led us to believe that we were dealing with a very serious and legitimate threat,” he said.
Early media reports suggested that the note the attacker had left was a ransom note for her father – the millionaire boss of an international software company – threatening to set off the bomb if money was not paid. But police declined to say whether the device had been part of an extortion attempt.
It was reported that the man also warned Pulver against calling police by saying he had attached a microphone to her so that he could hear what she said. He was also said to have told her that he could detonate the device remotely.
However Pulver called police, who then embarked on a delicate 10-hour operation to remove the device, which appeared to be so elaborate that experts had no idea whether it would explode as they tried to detach it. Pulver was said to have been “absolutely petrified” during the ordeal.
Police bomb disposal experts, who had sought advice from British military authorities as they worked, finally freed Pulver into the arms of her relieved parents.
She said she had been startled by the balaclava-clad intruder.
Pulver’s father, William, is the CEO of an internet share dealing company, Nielsen Net Ratings, and is said to be one of the richest men in Australia.
Her mom, Belinda, 51, has a successful landscaping company.
The family recently moved back from New York.
Murdoch initially refused to comment on claims that a ransom note was left with the device. “The family are at a loss to explain this,” he said. “You would hardly think that someone would go to this much trouble if there wasn’t a motive behind it. We want to get our hands on who’s done this.”
Immediately after the device was removed, Murdoch said bomb squad officers still did not know how dangerous it was.
But he did indicate that it was not a fake bomb. He said that neither he nor the bomb squad officers had seen anything like it.
Murdoch said the teenager was “doing well” after being reunited with her parents.
“She’s good – she’s been kept in a very uncomfortable position,” Murdoch said. “She has been and will be uncomfortable for a little while to come.”
There were suggestions that the drama mirrored a scene from the horror movie Saw and an episode of CSI.
Murdoch said police had found “some items” in the house that were being examined and he confirmed that among the detectives involved in the drama were some from the robbery and serious crime squad who deal with extortion. “We are working hard to find out exactly what it is and equally importantly what it isn’t.
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