French police misplace explosives on jet

AP ^ | 12/4/2004

[lodi90]

PARIS -- Police at Paris' top airport lost track of a passenger's bag in which plastic explosives were placed to train bomb-sniffing dogs, police said Saturday. Warned that the bag may have gotten on any of nearly 90 flights from Charles de Gaulle, authorities searched planes upon arrival in Los Angeles and New York.

French police said the explosives were harmless and there was no chance of their going off, since no detonators were connected to them.

More than 300 passengers were evacuated and their luggage searched when their Air France flight from Charles de Gaulle arrived in Los Angeles late Friday the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said

Two Air France and one American Airlines flight to Paris were also searched in New York City, TSA spokesman Norm Brewer said. No explosives were found on any of the flights.

French police at Charles de Gaulle deliberately placed up to five ounces of plastic explosives into a passenger's luggage Friday evening, police spokesman Pierre Bouquin said.

But a "momentary lack of surveillance" led to the bag being lost on a conveyor belt carrying luggage from check-in to planes, he said

[lodi90]

Inspector Clouseau ping!

[Bandaneira]

Very clever of the authorities.

[sinanju]

The French really have it together. I hope Jay Leno, Dennis Miller and the SNL gang will be all over it.

[Mobties]

Yeah.....that's the ticket

[radish42]

Dumb French ping

[xJones]

It was a bimb, not a bomb, you silly little yellow minkey!:)

[Ex-Dem]

This is almost unbelievable (until you consider that this is France we're talking about). They have permission to be opening up people's luggage and randomly placing explosives in them? And then they lose track of them?

And it's a little hard to tell from the article, but it sounds that these are real explosives (albeit without detonators), not fakes. They must be, if that's what's being used to train the bomb-sniffing dogs.

[Normal4me]

I see the French are doing their part on the war on terrorism. If the Muslims can't get the explosives on board, they'll help. "Mohamed, you bring the detonators OK?"

/hates the french

[GVnana]

Is this the reason for the security bruhaha at LAX?

[Sofa King]

We might have to ban incoming flights from French airports.

And if that means less French people coming over here, well, we'll just have to live with that.

[wildbill]

Nobody, not even the French, could be that stuoid. Something else is up that they wanted to cover up with some kind of story IMHO.

[thackney]

If they are giving away plastic explosives, maybe we should visit France.

[azhenfud]

French police misplace explosives on jet and can't find their @$$ with both hands tied behind their backs.

[MineralMan]

"French police at Charles de Gaulle deliberately placed up to five ounces of plastic explosives into a passenger's luggage Friday evening, police spokesman Pierre Bouquin said. "

---

Well, imagine the surprise of the passenger when he/she found the plastique. Having handled C-4, I'd recognize it. What would I do if I found it in my luggage after arrival?

I sure wouldn't report it to the authorities. That would be stupid. I'd probably make sure it didn't have any detonators, then dispose of it by burning once I got home.

Idiots!

[airborne]

French police said the explosives were harmless and there was no chance of their going off, since no detonators were connected to them.

Oh, well. Never mind then.

[airborne]

Having handled C-4, I'd recognize it.

Imagine some dummy lighting it on fire and then stamping it out!

[azhenfud]

But a "momentary lack of surveillance" led to the bag being lost on a conveyor belt carrying luggage from check-in to planes..

IOW, you snooze, you lose.

[REDWOOD99]

When asked if he knew why they were using real explosives on a plane with real people, the frog spokesman replied, "I give up."

[Next_Time_NJ]

Whoops! Oh there is that modeling clay i was looking for!