US airport security loses bomb (moved from ATSNN), page 1

Security screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport lost track of a bag containing a fake bomb. The fake device was placed in a bag as a training exercise and to test current screening processes. The scanning machines raised the alarm that the bag contained something suspicious, but the bag was not searched and made its way onto a flight heading for Amsterdam. This airport was one of the airports used by hijackers in the 9/11 attacks. Since the 9/11 incident airport screening has been stepped up, but incidents such as this and undercover inspections show there are still weaknesses.

news.bbc.co.uk
Security screeners at a US airport lost track of a bag containing fake explosives and allowed to be loaded on a flight to Amsterdam.

The "bomb" was planted in luggage for training exercise at Newark Liberty International Airport.

A scanning machine raised the alarm, but the bag was not searched and airport staff lost track of it.

In Newark, the bag containing the fake device - complete with wires, a detonator and a clock - was not found despite an hour-long search.

It was later recovered by security officials in Amsterdam.

The airport near New York City was one of three used by the 11 September hijackers.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

First of all I find this comment from the article quite strange and somewhat irrelevant to the situation.

"At no time did the bag pose a threat and at no time was anyone in danger," said a transport security spokeswoman.

That�s a rather obvious statement, the bomb was a fake after all. I am not sure how that is supposed to calm the public's fears of safety.

This is quite worrying that even though scanning machines detected the device, the bag was not searched. Why wasn't it searched? It is also concerning that it made its way onto a flight and was not discovered until it reached Dutch security officials. If it had been a real bomb, many would have died.

This comes just over a week after two French dog handlers were suspended after they managed to "lose" a stick of plastic explosives planted in an unsuspecting member of the publics bag. The stick, about the size of a chocolate bar has still to be recovered as it could have left on any of the 90 flights that day. The link to that story is underneath.

So, is enough being done? What else could be done to secure safe passage on International flights? Or are we left paranoid after the 9/11 attacks, a terrible incident, but a one off?

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