Security tried to give back bomb: source
Teen refused to accept device, airport video reportedly shows
New details have emerged about an incident in which a teenager took a pipe bomb to the Edmonton International Airport as he left for a trip to Mexico in September — including that security personnel who discovered the device in the teen’s carry-on bag may have tried to give it back to him.
A source close to the case told the Journal that Skylar Murphy, then 18, arrived at the airport Sept. 20 with a camera bag that contained a pipe bomb. He had forgotten the bomb was in the bag. Eight months earlier, the Spruce Grove teen and a friend had built two devices to blow up in a field for fun, the source said. They’d detonated one in a rural area and kept the other.
The device, a 15-centimetre steel pipe containing gunpowder with fuses more than a metre long at either end, was spotted by Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) officers after the camera bag went through an X-ray machine.
The source said security officers told Murphy he could keep the device, though he didn’t want it. The source, who has seen a video of the incident, said security officers can be seen pushing the device back to Murphy in an attempt to return it to him.
Murphy insisted he did not want the device and eventually proceeded through security without it on his way to a one-week family vacation in Mexico.
RCMP were notified four days after the incident. When Murphy returned to Edmonton on Sept. 27, police were waiting for him and arrested him as soon as he left the plane.
Murphy was eventually granted bail and released into the custody of his grandparents, the source said.
The source has seen a picture of the device and described it to the Journal.
Murphy, now 19, pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance and was sentenced to a $100 fine and a year of probation.
Among the conditions of his probation are to report to a parole officer, have no explosive substances, and make a $500 donation to the University of Alberta burn unit.
Alberta Justice spokeswoman Michelle Davio said the Crown prosecutor who handled the case is away and unreachable, and that there was no agreed statement of facts available to outline the details of the case.
Mathieu Larocque, a CATSA spokesman, said he could not comment on specific details of the case — including whether screening personnel had attempted to give the pipe bomb back to Murphy.
Larocque said it is protocol to contact police immediately when something potentially illegal is located, which was not done in this case.
He said an internal review was conducted after the incident, and some employees involved were suspended and others ordered to take additional training. Some training manuals were updated to ensure the protocol is followed in the future.
“It didn’t happen that day. The only thing we can do is ensure (the protocol) is followed going forward,” he said.
Federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt released a statement Wednesday saying she would be contacting the president of CATSA “to ensure the organization takes further action to better protect the safety of Canadian travellers.”
“This individual should not have been allowed to board his flight, and it is unacceptable that CATSA waited four days before seeking the RCMP’s assistance,” the statement read.