Lab Notes

In an effort to test the efficacy of their own security, police at Charles de Gaulle Airport slipped some plastic explosive into an unsuspecting traveller's luggage. Problem is, now they can't find it.

The explosive is apparently harmless without a detonator, and chances are the unlucky traveller got home, couldn't figure out what the heck the chunk of clay was doing in their bag and threw it out. As the article points out, the real problem is going to come the next time they go through airport security (at least, at an airport with better security than de Gaulle): trace amounts of plastic explosives can set off detectors and get them flagged as terrorists.

Brilliant security, folks.