Passenger's aftershave sparks bomb scare at Edinburgh Airport

Archant

A passenger's bottle of aftershave sparked a terror alert at Edinburgh Airport on Saturday - after security officers thought it was a bomb.

The grenade-shaped bottle belonged to Jimmy Ho, 25, who was heading back to London Heathrow after a break in Scotland with friends.

Mr Ho, from Ipswich, said he started to panic when he officials failed to return his luggage after it went through the scanning machine.

He told the Daily Mail: "I noticed that everyone was looking at me really strangely, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"I was waiting quite a while before anyone actually said anything and then they asked me why I had a hand grenade in my luggage and I was totally shocked.

"I had no idea what they were talking about and then I realised it was my fragrance. The next thing I know I am surrounded by police and I just felt really panicked."

After the Viktor & Rolf bottle was taken away for testing for around 45 minutes, and it was confirmed it was, in fact, just an aftershave, Mr Ho was released and allowed to board his flight.

He added: "Thinking back now I guess it was really silly and I think the design of the bottom is really bad considering.

"I guess at the end of the day it is an airport and it's a good thing that they do all these checks."

Mistaken bomb scares are not uncommon at airports and on planes; last week, a United Airlines flight bound for Switzerland diverted to Boston after an unclaimed camera was found on an unoccupied seat by cabin crew.

Passengers were taken off the Flight 956 plane while bomb technicians inspected it at a remote area of Logan International Airport.

And, back in February, a Southwest Airlines pilot inadvertently caused a bomb scare after wishing happy birthday to the mother of an air traffic controller on board his flight.

Panicked passengers reportedly mistook the words 'mom on board' for 'bomb on board' (far easier to do with the American accent and spelling), on the flight from Baltimore to Long Island.

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