Collar Bomb': The History of a Horrible Explosive Device

The world has breathed a sigh of  deep relief as police explosives experts have saved an 18-year old Australian girl from a collar bomb attached to her neck. Early reports indicated that the girl was the victim of a ransom scheme. As authorities fought against the clock to dismantle what was most likely a home-made explosive device, we at the Blaze looked at the history of collar bombs, including usage by drug cartels to terrify civilians and the devices as depicted in mass media.

The most famous criminal case involving such a device was the so-called "collar bomber" case in Erie Pennsylvania in 2003.In a bizarre and gruesome turn of events, a  pizza delivery man walked into a bank with a collar bomb around his neck, demanded money, was tracked by police to a parking lot, and was killed by the device's subsequent detonation. Watch this CNN video to get an overview of the case:

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Wired.com wrote an in-depth piece on the case that, despite a jury verdict of guilty against a bizarre and disturbed woman, leaves open questions about whether the real mastermind got away. Wired made the case that the details of the bomb itself -- the craftsmanship involved, attention to detail, and devious countermeasures- - seemed to indicate that another person of interest in the case (now deceased) may have been the evil brains behind the scheme.

While the Eerie, Pennsylvania collar bomber case made international headlines, it was not the first time such a device had been brought to public attention. "Necklace bombs" have been in use by Drug cartels for years. Marxist terrorists tied a necklace bomb around a mother of four named Elvira Cortes in Columbia in 2000 because she refused to pay extortion money. Despite 9 hours of bomb squad attempts to defuse it,  the device detonated, beheading the victim and mortally wounding one of the bomb squad experts.

Fortunately, there have also been cases where a necklace bomb has been successfully defused. In 2003, the BBC reported that FARC rebels put a necklace bomb on a Colombian rancher, once again because he refused to pay extortion money, and Colombian and Venezuelan authorities were able to defuse it over the course of several hours.

The drug cartels have used necklace bombs because they inspire such deep visceral fear in populations they seek to control. But Necklace and collar bombs have also made their way to mass media depictions.

In the 2006 movie adaptation of the 1980's television show "Miami Vice," a collar bomb kills a hostage in the opening scenes of the movie, and nearly kills one of the protagonists towards the end. There was also an episode of the television show CSI Miami in 2002 during which a necklace bomb kills a drug smuggler as well as a police bomb squad officer. The collar bomb also makes a macabre appearance in the ultraviolent 2006 film "Saw III."

Thankfully, today's collar bomb story in Australia has ended without any casualties, and police are hopefully hot on the trail of the perpetrator.

But we may very well see more of these devices popping up around the globe's various drug wars, insurgencies, and campaigns of terror.