A passenger on a flight from Slovakia to Dublin, Ireland unwittingly carried a bomb in his luggage, causing an international incident. Without informing passengers, security agents at Poprad-Tatry Airport (TAT), in the Slovak Republic, hid 96 grams of a plastic explosive known as RDX, in nine travelers bags to test the effectiveness of their sniffer dogs. The dogs located all but one of these lethal packages, each with the explosive power of two hand grenades.
After Danube Wings Flight V5 8230 took off, officials at the airport discovered their mistake, and notified the pilot. He determined that it was safe to continue the flight, as the explosives did not contain a detonator. Slovak controllers allegedly sent a message to Dublin Airport and informed them about the problem. Airport personnel in Dublin denied such notification.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) Bombs of a different sort (Photo Credit - Google Images); (BELOW RIGHT) Syringe, burned underwear, and explosive powder of NW 253 terrorist attack (Photo Credit - ABC News); (BELOW LEFT) Irish Minister Dermot Ahern (Photo Credit - U.S. Department of State)
A slide show follows this article showing actual airport security and more whimsical images.
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Three days after the flight had arrived, on January 5, 2010, the Slovak airport authorities alerted their colleagues at Dublin Airport, who then told the Irish police (Garda Síochána) of the security breach. 
They also alerted the man via his mobile phone, describing what he had unwittingly done. Irish authorities located and raided his residence on Dorset Street, not far from Dublin's famous O'Connell Street.
The passenger was arrested and taken to a Garda station for questioning. He was detained for about two hours, but was eventually released and cleared of all charges. Irish elected officials called it a "serious security breach".
Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality, and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, was outraged over the 72 hour delay by Slovakia reporting the incident to Irish officials, and called for an investigation. In the United States, a former head of security for Northwest Airlines told National Public Radio (NPR) that it is common for U.S. carriers to place actual explosives in luggage under their control to test sniffer dogs, but never without a passenger's knowledge and consent.
Slovakia's Minister of the Internal Affairs, Robert Kalinák, expressed his "profound regret" in a telephone call to Ahern. Slovakia has said it will assist in resolving this matter. He also immediately banned the sniffer dog security checks in his country.
In an unrelated but equally bizarre event, called to our attention by Marc Friedman, the Minneapolis Airlines/Airport Examiner, a 42 year old German man, attempting to board a Tuifly flight to Egypt with his
family for a holiday, jokingly told security officials that he had a bomb hidden in his underwear.
Official were not amused. They did a full body search, after which the airline refused to carry the passenger and his family, or to refund their tickets. He is also facing a fine equivalent to $1,444.
In this time of heightened travel security, bogus remarks and ineptitude by screeners are unacceptable.
CAPTION: (ABOVE RIGHT) The ultimate in terrorproof flying (Photo Credit - Google Images)
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Comments
I will not be on that plane!
Nude planes? I think I'll stop flying when it comes to that.
All I can say is wow.
It won't matter if we are nude or not since they have scanners.
Sign me up, for the nude flight preferably, or maybe i'd prefer to go for a ride with the bombette at the top of your article. You decide for me and i'll go with it!
I would go on a nude plane if it contained the whole male cast of Twilight sitting around me. Other than that, I think luxury liners would have to come back in style.
Nude planes! Look like tighter security has some fun in it!
lol Interesting article!
Hard to beat two huge blue bombs...fun article, Joel.
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