Slovak Police training explosives incident

Slovak Police training explosives incident
Ireland (green) and Slovak Republic (orange)
Location	Poprad, Slovak Republic Dublin, Ireland
Date	2 January 2010
Attack type	Bomb alert
Weapons	90 grams of plastic explosive
Deaths	0
Injured	0
Perpetrators	Slovak police

The Slovak Police training explosives incident involved a passenger on Danube Wings Flight V5 8230, a flight from Poprad-Tatry Airport, Slovak Republic, to Dublin Airport, Ireland, on 2 January 2010, that, three days later, caused an international incident due to the mistaken carriage of a sample of plastic explosive on the aircraft.

The explosive had been placed in a departing passenger's luggage in Poprad-Tatry Airport as part of a sniffer dog effectiveness test for checked in luggage. The test material was detected by the dogs. A Slovak security officer apparently then failed to remove it, and the bag was loaded onto a flight to Dublin. With security checks not generally performed for arrivals, the passenger arrived without incident and took the bag to his home in central Dublin. On 5 January, the area surrounding his apartment was sealed off and evacuated, while Army bomb disposal experts recovered the sample. The passenger was arrested but released without charge.

The Slovak authorities said that the pilot was aware of the mistake and had cleared the flight, and they had told Irish authorities and the passenger the same day. Irish authorities however said they were not made aware of the situation until 5 January. The Slovak government apologised to Irish authorities on 6 January, and promised an investigation.

At 96 grammes, the amount of explosive was reportedly enough to manufacture two hand grenades (although it was harmless in its transported form, having no detonator) and exceeded that used in the attempted bombing of a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Michigan, days earlier.