Anna Chapman in Bond mode at Moscow Fashion Week. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
RUSSIAN spy Anna Chapman was outfitted with a $US2300 Chanel bag featuring a hidden, high-powered wi-fi device so she could secretly communicate with her Moscow-led overseers.
The bag, still in FBI custody, is expected to join a bevy of other Chapman goodies going on display as part of an exhibition about spies and their gadgets - including Chapman's - opening in New York.
"If she had been here another six months, Anna Chapman could have become the most dangerous spy in American history," said spy-book author and former CIA operative H. Keith Melton, who is curating the exhibition.
"She could access anyone," he said.
Melton believes Chapman was well on her way to severely 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 a Manhattan Starbucks the day before she was taken into custody in June 2010, when she complained the computer did not 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 hundreds of pieces of spy paraphernalia on display in the exhibit - including one titled "Anna Chapman's Laptop."
He described the 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.
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