By Lisa Kernek, The State Journal-Register PITTSFIELD, ILL. -- A customer who bought nine Sony PlayStation 1 game consoles has attracted the interest of both the FBI and the Pike County sheriff, who speculated that components from the video games could be used as detonating devices.
An FBI agent interviewed Wal-Mart manager Tom Reddick about the purchase two weeks ago, Reddick said Wednesday.
An FBI agent in Springfield would not confirm that anyone from the bureau had visited Pittsfield, a community of 4,200 people about 70 miles west of Springfield.
But Pike County Sheriff Paul Petty called the PlayStation purchase “suspicious” and offered several theories why the FBI would be interested.
“One is to resell them on the black market, and another is that some of the technology used in the games is more advanced and sophisticated than some used by some Third World countries,” Petty told the Pike Press newspaper.
“They could be used for a variety of military-type operations, including training devices. There is also the theory that some of the components in the games could be used as detonating devices.”
A Sony spokeswoman said it’s far more likely that whoever bought the PlayStations intended to resell them. PlayStation equipment is widely available through online auction services, as well as in stores.
Petty said Wednesday he had heard theories about PlayStation’s purported military uses from various sources, including news reports and law-enforcement agencies.
“It is sophisticated, I’m sure, to Third World countries in its technology,” Petty said.
He said his agency cooperated with the FBI, but he doesn’t know if the bureau has made any arrests. The sheriff said that PlayStation purchases in other communities also are being scrutinized, though he did not know where.
“It’s a game for children. For a family to come in there and buy one or two” would not raise eyebrows, Petty said. “For somebody else described as the individual was, the purchase made it suspicious.”
He declined to elaborate on the customer’s description.
In April 2000, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported that Japan had imposed export controls on Sony’s PlayStation 2 game console on the grounds that its components could be used for military purposes, according to the BBC News Web site. PlayStation 2 components could be used to quickly process high-quality images, a characteristic of missile-guidance systems, the report said.
In October 2000, The Associated Press also reported on the Japanese government’s fears, according to USA Today: “Officials are apparently concerned about rogue states that have military hardware but lack the sophisticated technological components,” the article said.
PlayStation 2, which Sony launched in 2000, is more advanced than PlayStation 1. Both versions are still on the market.
A spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America in Foster City, Calif., said she had never before heard claims that PlayStation components could be used to make detonating devices.
“There’s a high probability, if there’s a person buying them in large numbers, that that they’re intending to resell,” Molly Smith said.
A search for PlayStations on eBay, the online auction service, generated more than 1,000 hits.
Reddick said he did not know what prompted the FBI agent’s visit to the Pittsfield Wal-Mart. The store provided the agent with a copy of the receipt from the sale, he said.
“It’s not something that we normally question. We sell a lot of things that people go and resell,” said Reddick, who could not recall the date of the purchase.
Reddick added that he had never before been interviewed by federal agents.
“We’re in a small town, and you don’t expect the FBI to be anywhere around,” he said.