Suspected Cellphone Bomb at Mangalore Airport [moderator's edit - no bomb found]
 

Not the U.S. but I doubt TSA will let any report of a weapon go to waste so they can get their hands deeper into our assets.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/cellpho...india-11202489

This is precisely what TSA/CATSA etc should be looking for...not water and toothpaste. I wonder if security at Mangalore caught it because they WEREN'T distracted by the foolishness practiced over here.

It was not a cell phone bomb. They found a cell phone attached to a a dummy external power bank that was perhaps being used to see if the external
power bank could be used to conceal something for illicit transport.

From the article:

I agree there appears to be some confusion on exactly what was found but I doubt that will slow down TSA's Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste efforts to capitalize on this event.

Based upon the picture in the article linked above, this is IED 101. If I were searching a bag and found this, I would most likely need a new set of clothes. You have all the components of a smaller yield explosive device - maybe not enough to bring down the airport or a large airplane, but certainly enough to do serious damage to the person holding the device.

You would rule out the most likely possibility at a US airport? That would be a US federal government test of the airport security screeners. Still worth a bodily fluid/excrement accident?

The TSA -- unlike Indian airport screeners -- allows lighters in cabin baggage? If so, components for a mini-power "IED" are easily allowed by the TSA.

Not quite. What was found was a "clay-like substance" attached to a power source all of which was inside a cell-phone case.

Not according to the Home Minister's office. Or are they repeatedly changing the story?

Sounds like the Mirror ginned up the headline for clickbait. Irresponsible in a world where governments will use such stuff as fig leaves to hide behind as they implement their authoritarian impulses, despite knowing the actual story.

To which home minister are you referring and what are they actually saying? In none of the 6 devices found was there any actual cell phone electronics nor any actual explosives. There was found in all a non-explosive clay-like substance and a power source; all used a cell phone case.

The headline is maybe exaggerated because it wasn't actual a bomb but certainly not ginned up or "fake" news. This was a part of a concerted, coordinated and continuing series of tests to get IEDs through passenger and baggage screening.

Also, these were not part of security service planned testing (i.e. "red team" testing) as were some publicized tests in Europe a few years ago.

Good answer! ^^

Every single picture I have seen in relation to this series of events is IED 101. So much so that if I had been running the x-ray, or found these during a bag check, I would probably have needed new clothes. I can't go so far as to say this was necessarily a coordinated, or planned event. Nor can I say it was just several people that decided to take a shot at it in short order, or if it is just a collection of loonies having fun.

This is a viable (and fairly easy to make) threat, not just to the flying public and TSA folks, but in other places. With the consistent engagement and social media assault by extremist groups (of all walks) constantly recruiting the disaffected members of societies - this is a reality for some folks. As a country, we have really been lucky in terms of terror attacks on our soil (speaking only in statistical terms, any terror attack is horrendous), especially with how easy it is to get into this country.

IED 101: a non-IED isn't an IED.

A viable IED threat from a non-IED? No.

"Suspected cell phone bombs" in cargo/checked luggage at two Indian airports this month were not cellphone bombs.

Union, not State. The story hasn't been consistent from there.

All of these non-IED "IEDs" were a "part of a concerted, coordinated and continuing series of tests to get IEDs through passenger and baggage screening"? Which conspiratorial organization was responsible for all of these non-IED "IEDs", and why would they go for non-IEDs instead of IEDs? More of the "dry run" conspiracy thinking?

I think this nitpicking does not further the discussion as I am sure almost everyone reading this understands what was meant but you are correct that language matters so I will indulge.

To the first question: Yes, probably, and likely, that all of these "non-explosive" devices were part of a concerted, coordinated and continuing series of tests of screening procedures to get IEDs through passenger and baggage screening" although it is possible that it was just somebody "having fun" (like putting fake dog poop on a sidewalk).

Above my pay grade and job responsibilities to share publicly who is suspected of doing this latest series for your second question. But surely you are not unaware that this area of the world is rife with individuals and groups that regularly use violence to further their viewpoints?

Perhaps the bad guys didn't want to burn a limited supply of materiel on a series of test runs? Another consideration is that today many explosives are traceable through chemical tags. Perhaps the bad guys didn't want to make it easier for security services to find them before doing it for real?

Absolutely for the fourth.

I'm sure I'm pretty well connected with the Indian security establishment. ;)