(March 23) -- The fight on terror is heating up in India, thanks to an innovative new weapon: the spiciest chilly in the world.
Terrorists wouldn't be forced to swallow it in deadly amounts, however. Loaded into a hand grenade, its smell alone would reportedly force them to surrender.
The chili grenade "is definitely going to be an effective nontoxic weapon because its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hide-outs," a senior military scientist, R.B. Srivastava, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
The thumb-sized bhut jolokia chili pepper plant was given its No.1 spicy spot in 2007 by Guinness World Records. Spiciness is measured in Scoville units, and bhut jolokia has more than a million of them, compared with up to 8,000 for the jalapeño. It's nearly twice as hot as Mexico's red savina, the variety it replaced as the hottest.
The pepper is grown and eaten in northeastern India for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and to fight the summer heat, the news agency said.
"The chili grenade has been found fit for use after trials in Indian defense laboratories, a fact confirmed by scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organization," a defense spokesman, Col. R. Kalia, told the AP.
Srivastava, director of the DRDO's life sciences department in New Delhi, said trials were under way to produce aerosol sprays containing the spicy pepper.
Once developed, the police could use them to control unruly mobs, and women could defend themselves against attackers.
India's Hot New Anti-Terror Weapon: Spicy Chilly
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