Shocking device disguised as a mobile phone

A device police say they found on an 18-year-old in a Brisbane park is actually a Taser-like electric shock device disguised as a mobile phone. At first sight it could be a mobile phone, but the reality is literally more shocking than that.

Police received reports a man was "Tasering" a tree with the shock device at Mabel Park, in the southern Brisbane suburb of Slacks Creek, at about 6.20pm on Thursday. When they arrived, he ran off, but was arrested after a short chase.

Logan District Officer Superintendent Alistair Dawson said that the unlawful possession of Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) is a serious offence.

"It is disturbing to see that a mobile phone has been reconfigured to hide an CED. On initial inspection, it appears to be a regular phone." Police say they don't know how the man obtained the device.

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Told You So: Disguised Taliban Strike in Afghanistan

In a follow-up to an earlier report, Taliban fighters, most of them disguised in women's burqas, have killed six people in attacks on government buildings and a military base in Afghanistan, Afghan officials have said.

The raids in Gardez, the provincial capital of Paktia province, and Jalalabad on Tuesday came amid a surge in violence ahead of Afghanistan's presidential and provincial elections.

Six suicide bombers wearing wigs and women's clothing and armed with rifles and suicide vests, tried to enter government buildings in Gardez, Afghan officials said.

"At 10:50 am [06:20 GMT] ... six suicide attackers armed with Kalashnikovs, grenade-launchers and suicide vests arrived near the intelligence office in a Corolla car," the Afghan National Directorate for Security (NDS) said in a statement.

The attackers "dressed as women ... walked towards the guards at the NDS gates, pretending to submit an application paper" before one set off his suicide belt, the statement said.

"Disguised Taliban hit Afghan bases", Al-Jazeera, 7/21/09.

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