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Yikes! for two reasons

A man and his daughter coming from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, Canada via ferry boat was busted for having a pipe bomb in the glove box. CBC News has the story and a photo:

Explosive device seized at Victoria ferry dock
A U.S. man has been charged with possessing an explosive device after allegedly carrying a homemade pipe bomb in his truck on a ferry to Victoria.

The 39-year-old, who lives near Seattle, was stopped when he arrived in the capital on Tuesday night after taking the Coho ferry from Port Angeles, Wash.

Canada Border Services Agency officers said they became suspicious while questioning the man, who was traveling with his daughter.

They said they examined his truck and found a suspicious device in the glove box – a 7½-centimetre brass pipe that was capped on each end and had a 15-centimetre green fuse-like string glued to one end.

They arrested him, secured the ferry terminal and called in the Victoria police.

This is the "infernal device" posed alongside a common ball-point pen. It seems to have been made of 1/4" common brass pipe. The article had zero mention of whether there were actually explosives inside. If it was black powder or rifle powder, there would have been a nice bang and some shrapnel over a couple yards or so but this is not a big scary "bomb" The two reasons I mentioned? #1) - why are they making such a huge stink over this. The poor guy is toast if he tries to apply for a job or bank credit in the next twenty years. #2) - why did this putz keep the device and not toss it overboard halfway through the trip. If he was serious, he could have brought through powder and fuse and gotten much larger pipe once in Canada. This little thing was a toy -- a firecracker.

Posted by DaveH at July 13, 2005 10:19 PM