Air passenger held after security-test officials plant explosives

[Al-khiyal]

Air passenger held after security-test officials plant explosives

January 6, 2010 -- An Eastern European electrician who unwittingly became a guinea-pig for his country’s anti-terror measures was celebrating his freedom last night after being detained for smuggling explosives. The unnamed Slovakian citizen found himself in the middle of a security alert in the Irish capital after a call from his country’s authorities. Slovakian officials told Ireland that the passenger had been part of an unconventional security operation at Bratislava airport last Saturday as he was boarding a flight for Dublin.

Eight pieces of contraband were planted by the authorities in the baggage of innocent passengers to test the airport’s security procedures. Seven were detected, but the eighth — 90 grams (3oz) of the plastic explosive RDX hidden among the Slovak’s personal effects — was not. The electrician, returning to Ireland where he has lived for four years, got on his flight undetected and unaware that he was in possession of enough explosive to blow up the plane mid-air. It was not until three days after he landed that the Irish police were informed by the Slovakian authorities of what had happened.

They immediately raided the man’s flat in an apartment block in central Dublin, the area was sealed off and residents and businesses were evacuated. The Slovak, who was still unaware of what was hidden in his luggage, was arrested and charged under the anti-terrorist Offences Against the State Act. The electrician’s own Government was eventually able to persuade the Irish authorities that his protestations of innocence were genuine.

Questions were being asked last night about the legality of the Slovakian authorities’ actions in planting explosives on a citizen for the purpose of a security test. Dermot Ahern, Ireland’s Justice Minister, said he was concerned that An Garda Síochána, the Irish police, were not informed for three days. It is understood that the security breach came to light only because officials at Bratislava airport finally contacted their counterparts at Dublin airport who then passed the information to the police.

[Al-khiyal]

Slovak authorities apologise as hidden explosives enter Dublin

January 6, 2010 -- The Slovakian government has apologised to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern after a passenger carried enough explosives to make two hand grenades on to a flight to Dublin as part of a security test at a small Slovakian airport that went wrong. The Irish authorities were not notified until yesterday, some four days after the incident. Slovakian interior minister Robert Kalinak yesterday spoke to Mr Ahern by phone. He apologised and said his government would fully co-operate with any Irish investigation.

The 96 grammes of high-grade plastic explosives was one of eight batches concealed by the Slovakian security services in the luggage of passengers departing Poprad-Tatry airport in eastern Slovakia on Saturday. The consignments were hidden without the passengers knowing to test security. Seven of the consignments were found by sniffer dogs. However, the explosives placed in the bag of a man travelling on the 11am flight to Dublin with Danube Wings went undetected. The 49-year-old Slovakian electrician flew to Dublin, where he has lived and worked for three years, and went to his apartment on Dorset Street in the north inner city. He unpacked, but did not find the mobile-phone-sized explosives.

The alarm was only raised yesterday morning when the Slovakian security services contacted the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and airport police. Gardaí were contacted and used the passengers’ flight details to establish his address. Raiding the apartment, they found the explosives and arrested the man. The busy roads around the apartment were sealed off for an hour, and nearby apartments and business premises were evacuated. The area was declared safe by gardaí and the Army’s bomb disposal experts at 12.05pm. The explosives are stable at room temperature but volatile when stored below minus four degrees. The quantity exceeded the 80 grammes carried by a man who tried to blow up a plane to Detroit last month.

A Garda report into the incident is being compiled for Mr Ahern, at his request. The arrested man was held at Mountjoy Garda station under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act. He was released after a short period. The Irish Times understands he was contacted by the Slovakian authorities on his mobile phone yesterday morning and told explosives were in his bag. Gardaí raided his flat shortly afterwards. DAA said there had been no breach of security in Dublin airport because security checks at all international airports were conducted on departing passengers only.

[Al-khiyal]

Explosives fiasco blamed on police dog-handler

January 8, 2010 -- Slovak interior minister Robert Kalinak has refused to resign over the botched airport security test that saw a passenger unwittingly carry explosives on a flight from Slovakia to Dublin, despite fierce criticism of his government’s handling of the case. The minister accepted the resignation of Slovak border guard chief Tibor Mako, a day after Mr Kalinak’s spokesman insisted that the fiasco was the sole fault of a police dog-handler who forgot to remove one of two samples of explosives placed in a man’s luggage as a test for sniffer dogs. The man, Slovak electrician Stefan Gonda (49), was briefly arrested on Tuesday after gardaí found the explosives at his Dorset Street flat in Dublin following a belated tip-off from Slovak police. After spending Christmas at home, he had returned to Dublin on a Danube Wings flight from the central Slovakian airport of Poprad-Tatry on Saturday.

Opposition parties in Slovakia hurled a volley of criticism at the government yesterday, as confusion continued to surround the circumstances of the debacle and how the country’s leaders and police have responded to it. One of the key questions surrounds how and why the pilot of the Dublin-bound flight was allowed to take off with some 96g of high-grade plastic explosives on board. The Slovak interior ministry insists the explosives were not a safety risk because they were in a stable condition and not linked to a detonator. It also claimed that before take-off “the pilot of the plane was contacted via airport tower . . . The pilot evaluated the situation as not dangerous and he took off with the plane.” However, both Danube Wings and Czech Airlines – from whom Danube Wings leased the Boeing 737-400 and crew – insist the pilot was not told he had explosives on his aircraft. “According to the current findings, the crew was only informed by the control tower while taxiing before take-off that a harmless box had been left after the exercise in one of the checked bags in the hold, which did not compromise the safety of the flight and contained a scent track for dog training,” said Czech Airlines spokeswoman Hana Hejskova.

Even after accepting Mr Mako’s resignation, Mr Kalinak continued to insist yesterday that blame lay squarely with the dog-handler, whom Mr Mako said failed to tell his police superiors about the missing explosives until Monday. “What happened at Poprad airport was a stupid human error. It was clearly the failure of a particular policeman. Disciplinary procedures have been initiated against him,” he told a press conference. “As a minister I have done everything required in this case. I have ordered a review of our procedures and halted such . . . Regarding calls for my resignation, I see them as part of the pre-election fight. It was not a systemic error.”

Slovakia is gearing up for a general election in June, but opposition politicians said their criticism of the government, and of Mr Kalinak in particular, was not mere politicking. “In my opinion the reaction of the Slovak government to this incident has been highly inadequate,” said Martin Fedor, a leading member of Slovakia’s main opposition party. “This incident indicates a presence of a systemic failure and probably also a violation of the Slovak law,” the former defence minister told The Irish Times. Populist prime minister Robert Fico broke his silence on the case to defend Mr Kalinak.

There has been no word from electrician Stefan Gonda on the case that has propelled him into the public eye. But his wife Monika told a Slovak newspaper yesterday that he was still “quite traumatised” by the affair. She said he had no intention of suing the Slovak police or the Garda over his ordeal, however, and he bore no grudge towards the dog-handler who left explosives in his backpack. “We don’t want the policeman to suffer,” she said. “Anyone can make a mistake, and he certainly didn’t do it maliciously.”

[amalgamate]

Air passenger held after security-test officials plant explosives

whaat?? omg!! poor guy didn't know what hit him! you can't do a horrible thing like that in America bcz of all the rights the citizens have.