"Explosives misplaced during airport security exercise"

Saturday, May 8, 2004

Airport security test runs afoul after TNT put in passenger's luggage
Canadian Press
 
 
MONTREAL (CP) - An airport security exercise went the way of a movie farce
after TNT was planted in the luggage of an unwitting passenger instead of
the bags of a security agent. 

The unidentified passenger arrived from abroad on Friday night. Unpacking at
a friend's home in Magog, Que., he found that explosives labelled TNT had
been concealed in a jam jar and placed in his bag. 

The man immediately called Quebec provincial police. 

Officials said such exercises - intended to test bomb-sniffing dogs at
Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport - are carried out every week. 

Authorities were unable to explain the mistake but said they would get to
the bottom of it. 

"Our investigation is going to reveal exactly what happened," airport
security spokesman Pierre Goupil told TV network TVA. 

Even more worrisome than the mixup, the innocent passenger and his baggage
were able to leave the airport without security detecting the explosives. 

The TNT was not dangerous because there was no detonator included in the
exercise. 

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has
invested more than $7 billion on security, with special emphasis on
airports.


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