NAHA —

An object that a university student from Kanagawa Prefecture picked up on the shore of Okinawa Island last week and took on a flight to a remote island turned out to be a U.S.-made grenade with explosive powder inside, Ground Self-Defense Force members said Tuesday. The GSDF members said there was a possibility that the grenade, believed to have been used during World War II, might have exploded if it had been subjected to strong impact.
   
The 20-year-old male student picked up the object, corroded and covered with seaweed, on the shore in Yomitan, Okinawa Prefecture, on March 16 and he checked his baggage containing it on a Japan Transocean Air flight from the Okinawa capital Naha to remote Ishigaki Island on Saturday, according to police. The grenade apparently passed the airport’s baggage security check undetected.
   

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5 Comments

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  bcbrownboy at 07:18 AM JST - 25th March

  Excellent security as usual. I remember when they missed 3!!! knives I took on a flight to Okinawa (I'd forgotten they were in my bag).

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  soldave at 09:06 AM JST - 25th March

  bcbrownboy - You just tell them it's a dive knife and it's allowed.

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  Mookoo at 10:10 AM JST - 25th March

  Knives in checked baggage is one thing, a grenade is quite another.

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  knowitall at 03:52 PM JST - 25th March

  I used to keep my pocket knife (which I consider a tool, not a weapon) in my carryon luggage back in the 90s. Narita never had a problem with it. In Guam, they found it and held it for me and returned it upon arrival. I guess it would get you arrested today. But my point is Japan airport security never has been and probably never will be very "secure." The article doesn't say, but the student showed his find to an employee of the inn where he was saying who reported it to the police that the student was possibly carrying around a grenade.

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  veilside at 12:14 AM JST - 26th March

  That kid's an idiot. The fact that he's a university student exacerbates the level of stupidity.

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