Explosives stolen at Phoenix Sky Harbor

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/09/04/20110904phoenix-police-explosives-stolen-airport.html#ixzz1X5Qcb3sE​

One pound of industrial explosives goes missing at an airport, taken from the police during a training exercise. What is wrong with this picture? Could they possibly have used smaller amounts? Water is incredibly dangerous in quantities greater than 100 ml. Could the police have used water instead?​

 

What sort of training exercise requires the use of actual explosives at the airport? Couldn't this have been conducted elsewhere?

So... there's an APB out for a blue, soft-sided igloo container with the letters C and B in white letters on the bottom. I wonder if it will turn up at an airport somewhere.

A hungry person somewhere will discover that lunch is lost and the funny looking tubes are sadly inedible. eeek

 

Cast Booster is a common mining explosive, used in a lot of different places in Arizona - and it's readily available. Presumably it carries a different odor than homebrewed nitrate-based explosives, and they were training canines at the time.

Without blasting caps, the stuff is damned near impossible to detonate. It's really stable.

That said, it takes major talent to lose a pound of real explosives at the airport during a training exercise.

I wonder if they placed it in some innocent person's luggage as part of the test like the last time I remember reading about explosives lost during "training."

 

As mentioned up thread just why are real explosives needed for a training exercise?

If I were looking for the stuff I would first call out every TSA employee at that airport. TSA PHX has already demonstrated a disregard of the law. TSA employees who would hold a lady hostage over breast milk are quiet capable of other violations of the law!

 

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!
1) What were real explosives doing in an exercise at a goddamn airport?
2) Who is so stupid that they could lose the explosives at a goddamn airport?

 

Bingo!

 

Truth is, shouldn't they shut down the airport until they find the explosives?

 

Just to make sure everyone understands: this is the Phoenix PD we're talking about here. Has absolutely nothing to do with TSA. Has nothing to do with supposedly sneaking them into a unknowing passenger's property just to test security. (TSA does not do that.) Still, it's a monumental foul-up. I have no idea under which circumstances it would make sense to use real explosives anywhere on airport property.

 

No, it was the French and the Slovaks sneaking explosives into passenger bags.

The TSA only does the sneaking-in bit with fake drugs.

The most damning bit:

 

Update: They've been recovered.

And all without a terminal dump. The Phoenix PD may be complete assholes for refusing to accept sexual assault claims from passengers against the TSA, but at least they're competent enough to clean up their mess without four hours of delays in the name of security theatre.

 

I can see where actual explosives might have to be used in a canine training exercise. You couldn't really recreate the airport environment otherwise. The failure was that the fools running the exercise left the explosives someplace where they could be stolen.

 

Oh, they're fools all right.

Any dumber and they'd be TSA employees.

 

I don't think even TSA would knowingly leave an actual explosive lying around in an unsecure area.

 

I'm pretty sure there's a shortage of people stupid enough to let the TSA play with the real thing.

 

You sure about that Bart?

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-115970.html
TSA Loses Fake Bomb at Newark Airport

 

I think a simulant with only a very small bit of the explosive would be suitable for canine training. They reportedly can detect very small amounts of the target substance.

 

Completely beyond anything I would be able to confirm.

 

Yes, I am absolutely certain. That test device was not given to an unknowing passenger. In fact, there was no passenger involved. Doesn't excuse the sloppiness of that evaluation.

 

My understanding is that you have to use the real stuff; otherwise, you end up with a dog that is trained to find simulants and other fakes. This type of training does not have to be conducted at an airport. There are off-airport facilities such as police firing ranges and other similar LEO or even military facilities where these items can be secured and areas where they can be used to train without the possibility of them "accidentally" getting misplaced or lost.

 

Correct. It was placed on an unsuspecting aircraft, potentially carrying hundreds of passengers - any of whom might have been "fingered" to cover up the sloppiness of the "evaluators."