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Dynamite found on Continental flight

Cylinder

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Cylinder
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Even though the article claims otherwise, the words "test flight" has to come to mind at some point:

FBI: Dynamite found in luggage

A college student was detained Friday after customs agents found what they suspected was dynamite in his checked luggage, but authorities said he was not involved in terrorism.

Authorities identified the man as Howard McFarland Fish, 21, a U.S. citizen from Connecticut. He was flying on Continental Airlines Flight 52 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Houston, Texas, which landed at 6 a.m. Friday, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.

"It has not been tested, but it's believed to be a half-stick of dynamite," Dunlap said of the item in Fish's luggage.

"The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force responded and determined that it was not an act of terrorism and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Fish into custody. ICE is currently consulting with the U.S. attorney in Houston regarding possible criminal charges," ICE said in a statement.

[snip]

In Houston, KTRK-13 quoted law enforcement sources as saying that the man had a blasting cap, a homemade fuse and a quarter-pound of ammonium nitrate, in addition to the dynamite.
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The items were found packed inside a Coca-Cola bottle and packed in mud. For all the tin-foilers, yes - it was George Bush International Airport. :)
 
And they're sure this wasn't related to terrorism why, exactly?
 
Packed in mud? Sure sounds like the guy wanted to see if he could get away with it; for purposes unknown.
 
Seems to me the "homemade bomb" was not designed to be detonated; it was designed to be found. Perhaps somebody wanted to know how long it takes security officials to find such a thing.
 
Journalists sometimes do this so they can run big "LOOK WHAT WE GOT ONTO A PLANE!" stories - perhaps this kid was doing something similar, either making a political point, a safety point, or trying to get a story.
 
tkingdoll said:
Journalists sometimes do this so they can run big "LOOK WHAT WE GOT ONTO A PLANE!" stories - perhaps this kid was doing something similar, either making a political point, a safety point, or trying to get a story.
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You're absolutely right and I believe they should be prosecuted severely.

I also believe that most instances of this sort show how incredibily inept we are at stopping a threat from arriving on our shores. Who is to say a Muslim terrorist couldn't assume an alias in Buenos Aires and hop aboard a similar flight for sinister purposes? Who is to say they can't come over just to wait until a specified time in the future?

Maybe we need to throw more money at another blood-sucking monster . . . we could call it, Department of Outland Security. They could provide security for flights headed towards the U.S. from every airport, in every major city in the world . . . and those that aren't with us are against us . . . ;)
 
boooeee said:
From this article: http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=16849


It seems pretty likely that this guy wanted a cool souvenir and had a collosal lapse in judgement. The chances that this was some sort of terrorist "dry run" seem pretty small to me.
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I don't think dynamite makes the best souvenier. It doesn't age well, sometimes the kids or the pets play with it, come independence day someone could mistake it for a smoke bomb and light it up or something...
 
Mycroft said:
I don't think dynamite makes the best souvenier. It doesn't age well, sometimes the kids or the pets play with it, come independence day someone could mistake it for a smoke bomb and light it up or something...
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I was using a 21 year old's definition of "cool". I don't think kids or pets entered into his thought processes on this. Obviously, very little did.
 
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