Man carrying inactive mine arrested at airport

WTNH-TV, New Haven ^ | July 4, 2003 | Staff

[LurkedLongEnough]

(Windsor Locks-WTNH, July 4, 2003 9:00 PM) _ An explosives expert who told airport screeners he was carrying a Russian land mine in his carry-on luggage was charged with Breach of Peace Friday night at Bradley International Airport.

Tommy Dale Smith, 43, of Charlotte, North Carolina, teaches military personnel overseas how to deactivate mines and other military ordinance.

While going through security, he told a TSA screener that he had a Russian land mine in his bag. The mine was inactive and did not contain any explosive material.

Smith was questioned and charged with Breach of Peace and Inciting Public Alarm. He was expected to be freed after posting a $500 bond, and was scheduled to be in court on Monday.

[LurkedLongEnough]

There MUST be more to this story.

[EggsAckley]

Let's see, he TOLD THEM he had the mine, and he teaches military personnel overseas how to deactivate mines and other military ordinance.

And they still arrest him. Hmmmmmm...........

[Cindy]

This sentence pretty well explains the situation...

"Smith was questioned and charged with Breach of Peace and Inciting Public Alarm. He was expected to be freed after posting a $500 bond, and was scheduled to be in court on Monday." Note that he wasn't charged with any type of explosives/weapons crime, but "breach of peace."

[Cindy]

This case PROBABLY will be tossed out. More details will be helpful.

[Tijeras_Slim]

This could be legit. I've done some work with a guy who has an mine field on his property in the Carolinas (all inert) and tests mine detection technology. He also plays devil's advocate for bomb squads, by making various IED's (improvised explosive devices) that they have to figure out.

[toddst]

Note that he wasn't charged with any type of explosives/weapons crime, but "breach of peace."

This explains nothing to me, other than the screeners went off the deep end instead of using some common sense. The man declared the mine to try and avoid trouble.

This kind of nonsense is one reason why I don't fly on commercial airlines any longer.

[RickGee]

I guess that if I want to take some Pringles on a trip, I'd better drive. They'll think it's a pipe bomb or something.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

Agreed, more to it indeed.

I would actually love to see the faces on the traveling public if they could read and have explained to them prior to boarding a passenger jet, they full manifest of cargo. The stuff the airlines routinely carry is mind-boggling.

A friend of mine who flies a widebody for a major US based airline told me once that he has personally signed off for several hundred pounds of C-4 which was accompanied by f BATF agents once and he was given a separate load sheet for a “unknown but hazardous” package that weighed nearly 600 pound but was, according to the description less than the size of a suitcase, It was accompanied by two US Marshals.

He’s flown medical research stuff ranging from tainted blood to live bacteria and animals sealed up in quarantine units, which needed to be placed in an empty cargo hold.

Dead bodies for both funerals as well as medical research and more stuff for the CDC out of ATL than he cares to recall.

TMMT

[Consort]

There was no good reason to carry the mine on a plane with him.

[WorkingClassFilth]

"...the screeners went off the deep end instead of using some common sense."

The problem was that The McMinistry of Homeland Security has not provided a 'deactivated land mine' picture key on the McScreener's computer keyboard.

Hold the shrapnel and timed fuses, special orders just confuse us...

[July 4th]

I think that happened a couple of months ago. Someone called the bomb squad after a can of Pringles with a bottle in it was left on the sidewalk.

[squidly]

But if it contains no explosives, it's not a mine, just a metal shell. What's wrong with carrying that?

[Blood of Tyrants]

The addition is the typical overreaction of the FATASS rent a cops.

[Cicero]

"Breach of the peace" probably means that when they told him he couldn't take an empty hunk of metal aboard the plane, which he needed to do his job, their language escalated, he correctly told them they were morons, and they slapped a charge on him to make sure he was as badly inconvenienced as possible.

I have very little confidence in airport security. If they had ever succeeded in catching a real terrorist at an airport, I think they would have told us, because they badly need some good PR. So far nothing but false alarms and stupid ploys like this one.

[Consort]

What's wrong with carrying that?

It presents the same potential problems as carrying a fake hand grenade. It can unintentionally scare people, or intentionally scare people if used as a threat. There are other legal ways to send things from one place to another. He should have known better. He probably did know better.

[toddst]

It presents the same potential problems as carrying a fake hand grenade. It can unintentionally scare people, or intentionally scare people if used as a threat. There are other legal ways to send things from one place to another. He should have known better. He probably did know better.

I can't agree without knowing more. This man may have been unable to plan ahead further (ship the mine via UPS, for example)due to time demand, like the workshop is tomorrow or this afternoon.

Having logged way too many miles on commercial carriers in a dash for some meeting or other, I am totally sympathetic with the "consultant." Is there no secure area the mine could have been placed in so it could be retrieved as the man deplaned? That's what they used to do with guns before all this foolishness started.

Following 9-11 I switched to general aviation aircraft. The client pays whatever the added cost is, if he wants me there super-quick.

[DAnconia55]

The problem was that The McMinistry of Homeland Security has not provided a 'deactivated land mine' picture key on the McScreener's computer keyboard.

ROFL! Now THAT was F'n funny.