NARITA, Japan -- An explosives detection device at Narita airport indicated Tuesday that a suitcase belonging to a transit passenger contained explosives, but it was later found to contain only a laptop computer and magazines, airport officials said.
The officials said a police bomb-disposal unit was mobilized after they notified the police that the device had detected explosives while screening the suitcase belonging to a 49-year-old female passenger at around 1 p.m. at a baggage-handling area in the airport's No. 1 terminal.
A sniffer dog, however, showed no response to the suitcase, they said.
The device is the newest version that employs technology derived from medical computer tomography to locate and identify explosive devices concealed in checked baggage, the officials said.
A security official at the airport said, "The device sometimes reacts to materials that are not explosives because of its (sophisticated) performance."
The passenger, a U.S. citizen, arrived at Narita airport from Denpasar in Indonesia aboard a Japan Airlines flight, and was to depart for Detroit on a Northwest Airlines plane.
