[robowombat]

The article should read ‘diplomatic pouch’ which can encompass pretty much anything. South American diplokleptos send automobiles out of the US to their various nations by ‘pouch’. Back in the 50’s a Venezuelan warship, a destroyer I think, was made seriously top heavy by the ‘pouch’ deck cargo of large appliances and various heavy consumer and industrial goods. The ship encountered some rough weather and very nearly rolled over in a moderately heavy seaway.

[Robert357]

Thank you for your comment about probably not suitcases, but diplomatic pouches that can be huge.

I was smelling fake news.

A half ton of explosives is a little over 450 kg. The density of pure hydrogen peroxide (the principal ingredient in TATP) has a density of 1,442.5 kg per cubic meter. So that would be 0.312 cubic meters (or more if less dense stuff) and is a little over 11 cubic feet. That is about 4 suitcases each weighing about 250 pounds.

So considering all things, maybe 8 to 10 suitcases each around 100 pounds. So that would be a large amount of suitcases in any airport.

[Jumper]

You are correct. As a former Pouch Groch at State, I handled pouch and USPS for over eight years - probably 2-4% of routine duties. It can be lonely work boxing it up for shipment and then you take to the airport with our dip clearances to go down to the tarmac and under the belly of the plane.... and return to post.

The US Embassy provides USPS Post Office and Classified Support for State and to tenant organizations of which there can be many from the USG.