'Detonator' in Germany-bound Namibia plane

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News 18 November 2010 Last updated at 10:53

Namibian police have delayed a flight after finding a detonator in a suitcase checked onto a German-bound plane, German police have said.

There were no immediate reports that explosives were found in the bag.

The bag was checked in on a plane from Namibia's capital Windhoek to Munich, Germany's Federal Crime Office said.

The discovery came one day after Germany stepped up security measures amid intelligence pointing to a planned terror attack in the country.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11785951

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Plus "batteries and a ticking clock", but still no explosives

Strange. How much damage can a detonator do with any extra explosives, anyone?

[Posteritatis]

2. Panic's a kind of damage. (nt)

[Kali]

3. I don't know about this situation but ask any old dynamiter about blasting caps

or primer cord (they are dangerous explosives used to set off the main explosives so they would be a "detonator")

[jberryhill]

7. Google "lithium battery hazards"

The reason why lithium batteries are so popular is that they can pack a LOT of energy into a smaller space than previous generations of batteries.

So much, in fact, that Li batteries incorporate safety circuits to keep them from becoming unstable.

If the safety circuit is inoperable, and a Lithium battery becomes unstable, then you don't need an explosive to compromise the fuselage of an aircraft or start a fire in the cargo area of the aircraft.

[Nihil]

10. "OMG! They're gonna blow up the plane with a laptop battery!!"

Ban them immediately!

Just to be on the safe side, ban ALL devices with batteries!
Laptops, netbooks, Blackberries, mobile phones, vibrators ...
you just can't be too safe when you're busy protecting the
American public!

:eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

4. You thought TSA scans were intrusive before?

After this we'll be subject to cavity searches...

[Posteritatis]

8. Nah, they're too specifically reactive

It would have to actually be in a cavity.

If someone was caught on a flight with a bomb in their right eye they'd ban right eyes in particular and nothing else.

[Turborama]

5. Now they're saying it was a laptop...

Suspected bomb actually a laptop: officials

Gillian Grace November 18, 2010 – 1:05 pm

WINDHOEK — Namibian police have identified as a laptop the suspect parcel which was on Wednesday intercepted among the luggage of a German-bound plane at the country’s main airport, officials said Thursday.

“It was a laptop bag wrapped in plastic, which was then opened,” police inspector general Sebastian Ndeitunga told national radio, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

“Our officers found the parcel suspicious as it did not have a travel tag and it was thus removed from the luggage,” said Mr. Ndeitunga.

The LTU/Air Berlin flight number AB 7377 to Munich with 296 passengers and 10 crew members was scheduled to fly from Hosea Kutako International Airport, some 40 kilometres east of the capital Windhoek.


Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/11/18/suspected-bomb-a-laptop-officials/#ixzz15evlWpRD

I had to look up Namibia as I wasn't sure where it was, it sure seems a random place to send a bomb from...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Namibia

[Robb]

6. German Flight Delayed From Namibia After Fuse Found

Source: WSJ

BERLIN—An Air Berlin flight from Namibia was delayed after police found a bag with a fuse in the luggage hall of the airport in Namibia's capital city, German authorities said Thursday.

Authorities in Windhoek, Namibia, were investigating whether the device found Wednesday morning could have exploded. A scan showed batteries attached by wires to a fuse and a clock, Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said. But Air Berlin spokeswoman Sabine Teller said no explosives were found in the bag.

The incident came as Germany already was on edge after German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday raised the country's terrorist threat level, saying intelligence services had received a tip from an unspecified country about a suspected attack planned for the end of November.

(snip)

The suitcase was found in the luggage-hall area near where luggage intended for the Air Berlin flight was being kept, and the flight's luggage was rechecked as a precaution. All passengers on the flight, which was headed to Munich, had to identify their own bags, and none were found without an owner, Ms. Teller said. Still, Mr. de Maiziere told reporters that according to preliminary investigations, it appeared likely the bag was intended for the flight.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704104104575622083793806748.html

[sarcasmo]

9. In related news, TSA tells public to show up nude to airports.