Canadian cop left bomb on plane

sunnews

theprovince.com

VANCOUVER - A BC transit cop left an explosive device on a commercial plane in 2011 and didn't realize it was missing for two full days, putting public safety at risk, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Monday.

The CTF renewed its call for BC's transit police to be disbanded after documents it obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request showed an officer, responsible for the explosive, didn't realize it was missing for two days in January 2011 following a dog training exercise on the plane. By the time he alerted his superiors, the Air Canada plane had already flown back to Toronto. The documents show Air Canada inspected the plane 14 times in Toronto to ensure the explosives were off the plane.

"Why on earth were transit police - responsible for SkyTrain lines - planting explosives on a commercial airplane as a dog training exercise?" asked Jordan Bateman, BC director for the CTF. "How inept do you have to be to not account for every explosive you put on a plane? This incident is a chilling reminder of what happens when police agencies push past their level of expertise and jurisdiction."

The CTF said transit police interviewed more than two dozen Vancouver airport staff members to determine what happened to the sample, which was apparently never found.

According to the CTF, the transit police closed the file, saying it was their "belief" the explosive "was placed in the garbage and burned locally."

CTF said just one person interviewed said he saw the device after the exercise, leaving it on an airplane seat for other cleaners to dispose of, but "there are no concrete assurances," according to the transit police's concluding report.

The transit police never went public with the incident, but CTF said the records show they prepared a news release with the co-operation of Transport Canada and YVR Airport.

Transit police have yet to comment on the CTF's accusations.