[CholeraJoe]

There are all types of substances that give false positives for explosive residue. Hand or body creams that contain glycerin and metal shavings for example.

[BluH2o]

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said the man told fire officials that he works in mining and often handles explosives, so that would explain the residue.

Apparently it was only residue, not actual dynamite ... although the article is misleading. It brings to mind an incident a few years back in Grand Junction, CO ... dynamite residue was detected on luggage. Turns out the owner of the luggage worked in the mining industry and handled dynamite, as part of his job, on a regular basis. This appears to be a similar type situation.

[x1stcav]

This sounds like dynamite residue.

This happened to me a few years ago. I was tramping around West Virginia coal mines where they were blasting. I put my shoes on the belt, they put them in the sniffer, I spent the next thirty minutes explaining why I was wearing explosive hiking boots, they put me into the computer, and then evrytime I tried to get on a plane for the next three years I almost had to undergo body cavity searches.

I wouldn't have minded any of this if while I was doing this I hadn't witnessed Middle Easterners going right through security while they had a six-foot-six airline pilot almost down to his skivvies, not to mention the little blonde-haired kids haviing their backpacks emtied.

Glad to have Norm Minetta in charge.

[SaxxonWoods]

I read th entire article. Despite all the confusion, one thing seems clear:

It is possible to place dynamite on a plane by way of checked luggage.

[green iguana]

Totally BS article - here's an update from the Houston ABC station (I think Houston...)

HOUSTON Life at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport is getting back to normal after an early morning security alert.
Officials say a bomb-sniffing dog detected a suspicious scent on a bag that had just arrived from Argentina aboard a Continental Airlines flight just before dawn today.

A search of the bag and its owner, however, turned up an unspecified item that had a scent characteristic similar to dynamite.

Authorities determined the item posed no threat and stood down from their alert and operations are returning to normal. No detentions have been reported.

[Iscool]

The identity and age of the passenger, a man, were not released.

Apparently this is the new code...

"We can supply the passenger's name and age unless he is a muzlim"..."Then, it's a secret"..

[green iguana]

Another link w/ a bit more info:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/9737767/detail.html

[vaudine]

Misleading article--big difference between dynamite and residue.

vaudine

[rock58seg]

Sounds like, from the article, it wasn't actual dynamite sticks, but residue. Big difference.

[CindyDawg]

It wasn't a bomb. It was just dynamite.

[G Larry]

The writer is an idiot!
There was residue in the bag, that has the chemical trace for dynamite.

The same thing would happen to me if I were to take the bag I use to go to the firing range, and use it for luggage.
There's enough residue from the brass and just sitting in the environment of the firing range, to trigger a hit from a swab & chemical analysis.

[Gritty]

[Doogle]

..and after the dog alerted he reacted to airport security

Doogle

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

They take away meal service, BYOB soft drinks, and now we can't have dynamite in our checked luggage?!?! Now they're going too far!!!!!!

[sasha123]

Update:

In Buenos Aires, Marcelo Sain, head of Argentina's Airport Security Police, told local television that authorities found "a Coca-Cola bottle with mud, and inside it was a tube with ammonium nitrate, a little bit of dynamite and a detonator," according to Reuters.

Ok, so the dynamite was a souvenir, why did he need the rest of the stuff?

[pax_et_bonum]

Houston ping