Slovakian authorities plant explosives on man to test airport security

An unnamed 49-year old man was detained for several hours in Dublin after returning from his Christmas vacation. He had unknowingly brought explosives into Ireland after having them planted in his luggage by Slovakian authorities.

The explosive was one of eight pieces of contraband placed with unsuspecting passengers at Bratislava Airport last weekend, broadcaster RTE reported.

Airport security detected seven of the illicit items, but the eighth – 90g of research development explosive – managed to escape detection.

Slovakian police alerted their Irish counterparts on Tuesday morning, and the man’s flat near the city centre was cordoned off while bomb disposal experts removed the explosives for further examination.

The Irish Army said passengers had not been put in danger because the explosives were stable and not connected to any essential bomb parts.

This is not the first time airport security has been tested. In May, 2008, Japanese police placed 24 grams of hasish into a passengers bag to train their drug-sniffing dogs. In December, 2004, officials at Charles de Gaulle Airport placed plastic explosives into the bags of a passenger, again for training purposes. Unfortunately, four days after the incident, the plastic explosives couldn’t be found. Two weeks after this incident, US security lost a training bag that had fake explosives in it. It later turned up in Amsterdam.

We already know what 200 grams of semtex will do to an airplane. We can surmise what 90g of a research development explosive would do. We don’t need airports “testing” their security through random, innocent people. At least in the incident in the USA, the bag was a training bag with fake explosives. In all the other cases, real explosives were used, not only putting the plane and the passengers at risk, but wrecking havoc on the innocent person “selected” to complete the task.

The innocent man in question passed through airport security with the explosive, flew with it, landed in Ireland, took a cab home, and lived for three days with the explosive until the Slovakian authorities notified Ireland.

While the Slovakian government has found a weakness in their security, they were unable to control the situation, risking lives in the process. As a frequent airline passenger, I can only hope that further tests to security are with fake explosives and not the real thing.