"Explosives from French airport sniffer dog drill still missing"

Wednesday, December 8, 2004

Explosives from airport sniffer dog drill still missing
By JOCELYN GECKER
The Associated Press


PARIS - Somewhere in the world, there's a navy blue suitcase with a small
pack of explosives tucked in its side pocket.

Four days after police at Charles de Gaulle Airport slipped explosives into
a random passenger's bag in an exercise for sniffer dogs, it is still
missing - and officials are stumped and embarrassed.

Police have sought to minimize public concern by insisting there's nothing
to worry about: The explosives had no detonator and are unlikely to pose a
danger.

But that does little to diminish the fact that French airport security has
been planting explosives in the suitcases of unsuspecting passengers - all
in the name of safety.

"That's pretty scary," said Chadi Kawkabani, an American tourist wheeling
his suitcase along the Champs-Elysees on Tuesday before heading to the
airport.

"I picture myself opening my bag at home," said Kawkabani, a marketing
director from Boston. "You might think terrorists planted the explosive -
and they could come to your house to get it back!"

"Imagine getting caught at your arrival," said Laurence Grassiet, a
32-year-old Parisian hair stylist. "You'd be in for a hard time!"

Authorities believe the suitcase left Paris between 5 and 7 p.m. Friday and
could have wound up on any of about 100 flights.

"It could have gone anywhere - to the four corners of the world," said
police spokesman Pierre Bouquin.

Blame, in this case, cannot be placed on the dogs. Two police officers
involved in the training exercise stashed a cellphone-size pack of plastic
explosives into the side pocket of the navy blue suitcase as it rolled along
a conveyer belt.

One dog successfully identified the bag, but police then lost track of it
when they went to fetch a second dog for the exercise.

For France's high-minded Le Monde newspaper, the mishap rings of Inspector
Clouseau, the bungling, fictional French detective of Pink Panther fame.

"Inspector Clouseau works the weekend at [Charles de Gaulle]," was the
headline of a story in Le Monde's Tuesday edition.

"We warmly congratulate the sniffer dog brigade ... for this remarkable
exploit: having succeeded in placing an explosive on a departing plane," the
newspaper said.

Police quickly ordered a halt to the practice, and the officers behind the
mix-up have been subject to a "disciplinary procedure."


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