Conman sold golf ball finders as bomb detectors to Iraq

France 24

Iraqi soldier holds a bomb detection device during a security check outside a polling station in Baghdad's Karrada district on April 13, 2013. AFP Photo

How many people died in Iraq after being tricked into a false sense of security by James McCormick’s fake bomb detectors? Two days after the British businessman was convicted of fraud in a London court, Iraqi officials are faced with the daunting task of tracking down more than 6,000 bogus "detectors" bought between 2008 and 2010.

The 57-year-old former policeman made huge sums of money by selling more than $40 million of useless devices to the Bagdad government while bombing attacks were claiming hundreds of lives throughout Iraq.

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