A 25-year-old Irishman remained in Garda custody overnight after being responsible for a security alert at Dublin airport yesterday. A firearm was discovered in the man's hand luggage as he was going through security screening in the departures lounge of the airport at around midday.
He was due to board a charter flight to Egypt organised by a tour company. An airport spokeswoman said the man was going through security screening when an item in his hand luggage aroused suspicions among staff. A firearm was subsequently discovered.
The man was arrested and taken to Santry Garda station. His main luggage was removed from the plane. He is being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be detained for up to 72 hours. A Garda spokesman said they didn't believe there was "anything terribly sinister involved, other than carrying a firearm. It wasn't as if he planned to hijack the plane. But it just beggars belief he would do such a thing in the light of current security [at airports]".
On July 4th, a 59-year-old man was detained in custody following a hoax bomb scare at Dublin airport. Up to 9,000 passengers on about 50 flights were delayed for several hours, and more than 3,000 passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal building when the man claimed he was carrying a bomb.
On July 7th, 60 flights and 12,000 passengers were affected when a rucksack with a copy of the Koran on top of it was found in the arrivals hall. The army bomb disposal team established the rucksack contained personal belongings and medicines.
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