Russian spy Anna Chapman's gizmos to go on display in NY exhibit

New York, May 18 (ANI): Anna Chapman's bag, which is still in FBI custody, and a bevy of other goodies are going on display as part of an exhibition about spies and their gizmos at Discovery Times Square that opens on Friday.

The hot-bodied Russian spy babe was outfitted with a 2,300-dollar Chanel bag featuring a hidden, high-powered Wi-Fi device so she could secretly communicate with her Moscow-led overseers.

"If she had been here another six months, Anna Chapman could have become the most dangerous spy in American history," the New york Post quoted spy-book author and former CIA operative H. Keith Melton, who is curating the exhibition as saying.

"She could access anyone," he said.

Melton believes Chapman was well on her way to severally compromising US business interests until she foolishly handed off her Toshiba laptop - chock full of sensitive information - to an FBI informant posing as a Russian agent.

The laptop's hand-off came during a meeting at the Starbucks at 10 Hanover Square in the Financial District the day before she was taken into custody in June 2010, when she complained the computer didn't work properly and the "Russian" agent - who told her his name was "Roman" - offered to have it fixed at the Russian consulate.

Melton owns or gained access to most of the thousands of pieces of spy paraphernalia on display in the exhibit - including one titled "Anna Chapman's Laptop."

He described the sexy Russian as so friendly, personable and beautiful that her mission of gaining access to wealthy or influential American businessmen was a snap.

After gaining their trust, the modern-day Mata Hari would hand off information about the men to her handlers, who would then decide if their businesses were worth targeting for espionage to help boost Russia's efforts to become a global economic powerhouse.

When she met with the fake Russian "Roman," Chapman had never even met face-to-face with any of her real Russian handlers.

She had been instructed to simply sit in a coffee shop, turn on her laptop and any data she had collected about potential espionage targets would be transmitted and encrypted via private wifi network to officers from the Russian consulate parked outside.

At her final meeting, she became suspicious when "Roman" asked her to deliver a fake United States passport to another sleeper agent - a task beyond anything Moscow had previously assigned to her.

Despite her misgivings, in FBI surveillance video of the meeting, she agrees to the job, saying "f---k yes!" when asked if she was interested in doing it.

After the meeting, Chapman took the subway to Brooklyn, bought a disposable cell phone and a long distance telephone card and called her father in Moscow, who many believe is also a Russian agent.

With the FBI listening in - they had gained immediate access to the phone when Chapman dumped its box, wrapper and receipt in a public garbage can - her father advised her not to deliver the passport.

Then Chapman sheepishly told him that she had given the man her laptop. After a 15-second pause, her father responded "You shouldn't have done that."

She was taken into custody the next day when she tried to turn in the phony passport at a Brooklyn police precinct, claiming that she had found it on the ground. (ANI)

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