State police lose plastic explosives during drill

[Cross-X]

State police lose plastic explosives during drill
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent

State police hid eight ounces of plastic explosives on the back bumper of a truck Wednesday night during a drill for bomb sniffing dogs at Logan International Airport.

Before the drill had been finished, however, a Massport employee drove off in the white pickup truck, unaware that a clump of the explosive Semtex had been slapped on the back. The employee only drove about 1.5 miles, according Lieutenant Sharon Costine, but it was far enough for clay-like explosive to fall.

State Police today were still searching for the Semtex, which they say can’t explode without an ignition device, Costine said.

"It isn't dangerous if you bump it or if you drop it," Costine said. "We are still looking for it."

The search today was confined along a non-residential section of Harborside Drive and remained active late this afternoon. Officials had retraced the route that the employee drove and were in the process of checking street sweeping machines, which had been cleaning roads in the area, Costine said.

The explosive was lost or stolen when State Police assigned to Massport's Troop F were conducting the K-9 training exercise in a secure parking area by the airport and Massport headquarters.


Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 04:51 PM

 

[JuergenG]

We have identified the enemy - it's us

 

[Cross-X]

How many NESers do you think will be out there today "helping" the State Police search for the Semtex? (grin)

 

[JuergenG]

I see pumpkin fragments flying from the Cape towards Beacon Hill

 

[Twigg]

I'll bet it's louder than Tannerite.

 

[Weerd Beard]

The Tom Clancy fan of me immidiatly linked this to Mohammad Khatami comming to Harvard. It's all a massive plot!


...welll

...maybe not....but I'm still working on the screen play.

Arrrr

-Weer'd Beard

 

[Migmojo]

How many NESers do you think will be out there today "helping" the State Police search for the Semtex? (grin)

My thoughts exactly

 

[JuergenG]

The Tom Clancy fan of me immidiatly linked this to Mohammad Khatami comming to Harvard. It's all a massive plot!


...welll

...maybe not....but I'm still working on the screen play.

Arrrr

-Weer'd Beard

Where do the Chinese come into play ?
(Thoughts of another Tom Clancy fan)

 

[Weerd Beard]

Where do the Chinese come into play ?
(Thoughts of another Tom Clancy fan)

Why don't you go play a game of solitare?

Arrrr

-Weer'd Beard

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

If this happened to any licensed blaster,(if he was stupid enough to admit losing it or caught falsifying his inventory sheets) he would most likely lose his license for a good long time.....I'm thinking two years or so anyway, maybe permanently if caught falsifying state or federal documents and probably a fine on top of it. They can lose their license for having fly rock at a site or for other property damage during a blast even though they post a bond for such things.
I think it's pretty careless of anyone in control of high explosives to not maintain control of its whereabouts and to leave it unguarded, official exercise or not....its still HE. There should have been someone watching it, the dogs wouldn't care if someone was standing 20-30-40 feet away.

I love this quote: "It isn't dangerous if you bump it or if you drop it," Costine said. "We are still looking for it."

Granted, the stuff is stable and highly unlikely to cause any problem but what gets me is that these are the same people that would absolutely crucify Joe Sixpack for having "Too many guns" or "Too much powder" or "Too many rounds of ammunition" or someone who lost a gun.

Somehow I see a double standard of treatment coming into play here very shortly. That casual comment kind of gives it away. Stay tuned.

 

[Amicus]

Troop F? F Troop?

Although the loss of any HE is quite serious, I can't help but smile when I note the division of the SP responsible.

 

[Another_David]

F Troop!

I forgot about that show. It was great!

So, can't the dog find the explosives?

Also, if it ends up in the trash they'll surely find it if it ends up at an incinerator.

This happened once before in Paris only it was put in a a suitcase and ended up on a plane to somewhere: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6672643/

You'd think they put a GPS or RFID with the device to locate it. Although, radio waves and explosives don't mix well.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

F Troop!

I forgot about that show. It was great!

So, can't the dog find the explosives?

Also, if it ends up in the trash they'll surely find it if it ends up at an incinerator.

This happened once before in Paris only it was put in a a suitcase and ended up on a plane to somewhere: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6672643/

You'd think they put a GPS or RFID with the device to locate it. Although, radio waves and explosives don't mix well.

Actually it would just burn like a piece of plastic, it takes a cap to set it off.

 

[Weerd Beard]

Actually it would just burn like a piece of plastic, it takes a cap to set it off.

I belive it needs to be laced with wire as well.

Arrr

-Weer'd Beard

 

[Cross-X]

Actually it would just burn like a piece of plastic, it takes a cap to set it off.

Of course, no NESer would be willing to be the one doing _that_ experiment.

Yeah, right!

 

[KMaurer]

Can't say that I've tried it with Semtex, but once upon a time I used to to it fairly often with C-4. How else are you going to heat coffee when you're out in the green and it's raining hard enough to make you start thinking about building an ark? (Hint: Never rely on second-hand Claymore mines for reliable protection.)

Ken

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I'll add the bulk data extrace for the USPSA club coordinates once we get a few more clubs to supply them. We currently have coordinates for 9 clubs, 4 of which all use the same range in AZ - whcih makes for a total of 5 coordiantes.

Club contacts - please update your profile on www.uspsa.org/club_services

 

[Jaxon]

Another example of why I have little regard for the Road nazis.

RJ

 

[Sixgun]

What business do they have sticking plastic explosive on a vehicle they don't control? That's not only STUPID, it is CRIMINAL!