2.1 ACQUIRING CHEMICALS

 The first section deals with getting chemicals legally. This section deals with "procuring" them. The best place to steal chemicals is a college. Many state schools have all of their chemicals out on the shelves in the labs, and more in their chemical stockrooms. Evening is the best time to enter lab buildings, as there are the least number of people in the buildings, and most of the labs will still be unlocked. One simply takes a bookbag, wears a dress shirt and jeans, and tries to resemble a college freshman. If anyone asks what such a person is doing, the thief can simply say that he is looking for the polymer chemistry lab, or some other chemistry-related department other than the one they are in. One can usually find out where the various labs and departments in a building are by calling the university. There are, of course other techniques for getting into labs after hours, such as placing a piece of cardboard in the latch of an unused door, such as a back exit. Then, all one needs to do is come back at a later hour. Also, before this is done, terrorists check for security systems. If one just walks into a lab, even if there is someone there, and walks out the back exit, and slip the cardboard in the latch before the door closes, the person in the lab will never know what happened. It is also a good idea to observe the building that one plans to rob at the time that one plans to rob it several days before the actual theft is done. This is advisable since the would-be thief should know when and if the campus security makes patrols through buildings. Of course, if none of these methods are successful, there is always section 2.11, but as a rule, college campus security is pretty poor, and nobody suspects another person in the building of doing anything wrong, even if they are there at an odd hour.

2.11 TECHNIQUES FOR PICKING LOCKS

 See also the MIT guide to Lockpicking.

If it becomes necessary to pick a lock to enter a lab, the world's most effective lockpick is dynamite, followed by a sledgehammer. There are unfortunately, problems with noise and excess structural damage with these methods. The next best thing, however, is a set of army issue lockpicks.

These, unfortunately, are difficult to acquire. If the door to a lab is locked, but the deadbolt is not engaged, then there are other possibilities. The rule here is: if one can see the latch, one can open the door. There are several devices which facilitate freeing the latch from its hole in the wall. Dental tools, stiff wire ( 20 gauge ), specially bent aluminum from cans, thin pocket- knives, and credit cards are the tools of the trade. The way that all these tools and devices are uses is similar: pull, push, or otherwise move the latch out of its hole in the wall, and pull the door open. This is done by sliding whatever tool that you are using behind the latch, and pulling the latch out from the wall. To make an aluminum-can lockpick, terrorists can use an aluminum can and carefully cut off the can top and bottom. Cut off the cans' ragged ends. Then, cut the open-ended cylinder so that it can be flattened out into a single long rectangle. This should then be cut into inch wide strips. Fold the strips in 1/4 inch increments (1). One will have a long quadruple-thick 1/4 inch wide strip of aluminum. This should be folded into an L-shape, a J-shape, or a U-shape. This is done by folding. The pieces would look like this: 

        _________________________________________________________    v
1/4     |_______________________________________________________|    |
1/4     |_______________________________________________________|    | 1 inch
1/4     |_______________________________________________________|    |
1/4     |_______________________________________________________|    |
^ Fold along lines to make a single quadruple-thick piece of aluminum. This should then be folded to produce an L,J,or U shaped device that looks like this: 
  
                       __________________________________________
                      / ________________________________________|
                     | |
                     | |          L-shaped
                     | |
                     | |
                     |_|

                       _____________________________
                      / ___________________________|
                     | |
                     | |     J-shaped
                     | |
                     | |________
                      \________|

                       _____________________
                      / ___________________|
                     | |
                     | |
                     | |     U-shaped
                     | |
                     | |____________________
                      \____________________|
All of these devices should be used to hook the latch of a door and pull the latch out of its hole. The folds in the lockpicks will be between the door and the wall, and so the device will not unfold, if it is made properly.

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