A British Army officer has been charged with taking a decommissioned grenade through Edinburgh Airport in October, with the incident forcing the bomb squad to visit Scotland’s busiest airport
A senior British Army officer has been accused of attempting to take a grenade through a busy UK airport.
Lt Col Hugo Clark was stopped at Edinburgh Airport on October 16 after a bomb squad was called to the site and a decommissioned hand grenade was found. After a team entered the site they identified the item as a dummy grenade which is used in training according to reports. It was assessed as being “non-viable and posing no threat”.
The officer was released from custody at the time and will appear before a court at a later date. A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Around 08:05 on Wednesday October 16, police were called by security at Edinburgh Airport after a decommissioned ordnance device was found during scanning of a passenger’s hand luggage. A 54-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection and released on an undertaking to appear in court at a later date.”
An Army spokesman added: “A service person was involved in a security incident at Edinburgh Airport on 16 October. As the matter is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings we won’t comment further.” The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has been approached for comment, the BBC reports.
Last week, part of Gatwick Airport was emptied as part of a mass evacuation when the bomb squad was called, causing long delays for travellers. Police were called to the UK’s second biggest airport after a “suspected prohibited item” was found in luggage. Sussex Police said a “security cordon has been put in place” inside the south terminal of the UK’s second busiest airport.
A large part of the building has been evacuated. Around 100,000 passengers expected to travel through the airport on Friday, but many missed their flights. Travellers flying from the south terminal were unable to check-in since the start of the incident.
Sussex Police said in a statement: “Police were called to the south terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20am on Friday following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage. To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the south terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible.”
Some flights departed from the south terminal since the evacuation, meaning some passengers may have been unable to board. A British Airways flight to Cancun, Mexico, departed at 11.16am, 26 minutes behind schedule. Several British Airways departures were delayed by at least one hour and 40 minutes, including to Orlando, USA; Funchal, Portugal; and Tenerife, Spain. Spanish carrier Vueling ordered an inbound flight from each of Barcelona and Seville to turn around and return to their starting airports.
