In Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel, in particular, terrorist groups have built IEDs into irregular concrete forms, or into irregular Styrofoam chunks unevenly colored in shades of grey and brown. They are shaped and painted to resemble small boulders and pieces of broken concrete curb edging along roadways, where troop convoys and civilian vehicles regularly pass. Similar devices have been used in some other countries, and in September, 2010 one was used by FARC rebels in Colombia to kill 4 police officers in their vehicle. These devices may be command detonated by partly buried long wires trailing back to an observation point hundreds of meters away.

They may be triggered by cell phone signals, radio-controlled hobby transmitters, or by Passive Infra-red (PIR) sensors embedded in the fake stone and facing the roadway. Others are triggered by pressure plates buried in the ground, tripwires stretched across a remote section of the roadway, or by small diameter, tilt-rod release switches, projecting upward from the pavement or gravel roadbed, and difficult to see from a moving vehicle, until it is too late.

Securesearch, Inc. produces replicas of these different devices—most of which are functional. They are designed to produce a loud signal (approximately 102 decibels), when triggered. Instructors running counter-terrorist and counter-IED training programs will find these training aids essential for realistic training on EOR / identification, protective measures and countering the effect of “concealed-in-the -open” roadside devices such as these.