Semtex

Originally developed for Czechoslovak military use and export, Semtex eventually became popular with armed groups and insurgents because, prior to the 2000s, it was extremely difficult to detect,[3] as in the case of Pan Am Flight 103.

[4] Semtex was invented in the late 1950s by Stanislav Brebera and Radim Fukátko, chemists at VCHZ Synthesia, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic).

The explosive is named after Semtín, a suburb of Pardubice where the mixture was first manufactured starting in 1964.

[8] On 21 December 1988, 340 g (12 ounces) of Semtex brought down a Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft and 11 bystanders on the ground.

According to the manufacturer, the taggant agent was voluntarily being added by 1991, years before the protocol became compulsory.

Explosia states that there is no compulsory tagging allowing reliable post-detonation detection of a certain plastic explosive (such as incorporating a unique metallic code into the mass of the explosive), so Semtex is not tagged in this way.

[10] On 25 May 1997, Bohumil Šole, a scientist who claimed to have been involved with inventing Semtex, blew himself up with explosives at a spa in Jeseník.