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Airport Security Test Goes Awry as Man Carries Explosives Unwittingly
Wednesday 06 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Poprad, January 6 (TASR) – The explosives found in the luggage of a Slovak who boarded a plane in Poprad (Presov region) to Ireland on Saturday got into his luggage via a Slovak police security operation that went awry, TASR learnt on Wednesday.
Slovak Police hid samples of explosives into the bags of several unwitting passengers in an operation aimed at testing the airport's security procedures. Police then had sniffer dogs search for the explosives.
However, 90 grams of the contraband had stuck to the straps of the baggage of a 49-year-old man and made it through undetected. The man was apprehended shortly after his arrival in Dublin.
"The police dog found only a trace of odour, and the police officer – a pyrotechnic expert – was then summoned to another job and forgot to take the second sample out (of the luggage area)," explained head of Slovakia's Border and Foreign Police Tibor Mako.
Mako added that the police officer made a second mistake by not informing his superiors of the first oversight. He only let the pilot of the airplane know about the situation. The plane took off, as the pilot deemed the situation not to be life-threatening.
Still on Saturday, during the flight concerned, Poprad airport notified the airport in Dublin that the explosive sample was on board of the plane. "It's a mystery to us why this wasn't met with appropriate feedback from the Irish police," said director of Poprad Airport Ivana Herkelova.
Using the Dublin airport's camera system, police identified the man and asked him not to tamper with the explosive. It wasn't until Monday evening that the man found the explosive and he agreed to wait for Irish police officers who were expected to take possession the explosive.
"On Tuesday evening we got in touch with Irish security forces to furnish them with an explanation of what had happened. Instead of taking the explosives, they, for reasons beyond our understanding, arrested the Slovak citizen and adopted security measures," noted Mako.
The man was subsequently released based on another explanation provided by the Slovak police, Mako added.
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