A Shopping List For Terrorists and Hijackers?

If you fly you know that there are certain items that you cannot take on a plane in your hand luggage. Most airports have plenty of signs telling you, in simple terms, what is forbidden.

In Montenegro’s airports (Tivat and Podgorica) , however, they go that little bit further and offer a comprehensive list of banned items and even show you nice images of them, in case you don’t read Serbian or English.

I thought the list was quite bizarre..

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind even consider bringing a machete onto a plane in their carry on?

Unless you want a starring role in the Hunger Games sequel why would you have a crossbow with you?

Obviously some people can’t travel without their crossbows .. or maybe Montenegrins are more violent than other nationalities? Was the list a reflection of a national propensity to violence? (Having been there several times over the last couple of years I’m pretty sure it isn’t!)

So what on earth was this list? Where on earth did it come from?

The answer is Regulation (EC) 68/2004.

While most airports have taken the regulation and simplified it, the Montenegrin airports obviously thought it prudent to simply provide the full list of banned items.

Here’s the list:

• all firearms (pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns etc.)
• replica and imitation firearms 
• component parts of firearms (excluding telescopic sighting devices / sights) 
• air pistols, rifles and pellet guns
• signal flare pistols 
• starter pistols 
• toy guns of all types 
• ball bearing guns 
• industrial bolt and nail guns 
• cross bows 
• catapults 
• harpoon and spear guns 
• animal humane killers 
• stun or shocking devices e.g. cattle prods, ballistic conducted energy weapons (taser) 
• lighters shaped like a firearm
• ammunition 
• blasting caps 
• detonators and fuses 
• explosives and explosive devices 
• replica or imitation explosive material or devices 
• mines and other explosive military stores 
• grenades of all types 
• gas and gas containers, e.g. butane, propane, acetylene, oxygen – in large volume 
• fireworks, flares in any form and other pyrotechnics (including party poppers and toy caps) 
• non safety matches
• smoke generating canisters or cartridges 
• flammable liquid fuel, e.g. petrol/gasoline, diesel, lighter fluid, alcohol, ethanol 
• aerosol spray paint 
• turpentine and paint thinner 
• alcoholic beverages exceeding 70 percent by volume (140 percent proof)
• baseball and softball bats 
• clubs or batons, rigid or flexible, e.g. billy clubs, blackjacks, night sticks and batons 
• cricket bats 
• golf clubs 
• hockey sticks 
• lacrosse sticks 
• kayak and canoe paddles 
• skateboards 
• billiard, snooker and pool cues 
• fishing rods 
• martial arts equipment, e.g. knuckle dusters, clubs, coshes, rice flails, num chucks, kubatons, kubasaunts

So you can’t carry grenades on a plane .. who’d have thought? 🙂