EDMONTON – An Edmonton MP isn’t holding back his feelings on how a security incident at the Edmonton International Airport (EIA) was handled back in September.
“This is a gross error in judgement. This is just unbelievable, frankly, stupidity,” Edmonton-Centre MP Laurie Hawn told Edmonton’s 630 CHED Friday.
On Sept. 20, Skylar Murphy was passing through airport security when screening staff found a pipe bomb in one of his carry-on bags. The device was originally given back to the then 18-year-old before other screeners stepped in to confiscated it.
The Spruce Grove man was allowed to board his flight to Mexico. RCMP were not made aware of the incident until four days later.
READ MORE: Source says pipe bomb was initially handed back to man passing through EIA security
Hawn, who sits on the Canada-US Permanent Joint Board on Defence, is calling for the Canadian Air Transport Authority (CATSA) staff members who were involved to be dealt with.
“In my view, anybody who was a party to that incident should be fired forthwith.”
Hawn believes a review of the whole CATSA system needs to be done, but says that will be left up to the Minister of Transport.
“I say this as a compliment: I wouldn’t mess with Lisa Raitt. She’s a very strong minister, she’s a very strong person, she’s got lots of experience in this field,” he said. “So I’m very confident that she is going to get to the bottom of whatever these circumstances were.”
READ MORE: Alberta man planned to ‘blow up a shed’ with pipe bomb found at EIA security, say court docs
Since the incident came to light earlier this week, CATSA says “corrective actions have been taken.” However, the organization did not outline exactly what those actions were.
Murphy was arrested and charged with possession of an explosive substance on Sept. 27, when he returned to Canada.
In December, he pleaded guilty to possession of an explosive substance. Murphy was sentenced to one year of probation, given a $100 fine, plus required to donate $500 to the University of Alberta burn unit.
With files from 630 CHED.
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