The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority’s behaviour was unacceptable when it allowed a young man to board a flight while in possession of a pipe bomb, Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raiit told CBC. The incident took place on Jan. 15 at the Edmonton International Airport.
Raitt believes the safety of Canadians needs to be its number one priority.
Corrective actions are being taken to ensure something like this does not happen again. Raitt says the individuals involved have been disciplined and will receive additional training. She explained that updates have been made to the training material for CATSA across the country in order to clarify procedures such as this.
The young man involved, 18-year-old Skylar Vincent Murphy, claims he tried to give the bomb to the guard insisting he take it away. According to court details the guard was caught on camera pushing the bomb back into Murphy’s camera bag and motioning him to continue onto the flight.
No action was taken until Murphy returned to Canada where he was arrested immediately by a team of uniformed officers, a SWAT team and police dogs. A spokeswoman for CATSA says screeners do not have the authority to place individuals under arrest and can only alert the police.
Since the incident a number of outraged Canadian flyers have voice their opinions on this severe breach of security by CATSA.
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