There were 230 grams of plastic explosives in a suitcase at Sydney Airport. Who left them there? The Australian Federal Police! They have even owned up and apologised for it.

The Newcastle Herald says that the explosives were found by a woman after the "unclaimed bag" was given to her to replace her own bag that had got spoilt. It was a serious training gaffe that left the bag for three weeks at the airport.

On August 14, the explosives had been left in the bag when there had been an exercise for training. But it was discovered only on September 9, Tuesday, after the woman took the bag. She then went to the Cessnock police station to file a complaint. The Cessnock police station was "temporarily evacuated", to prevent trouble. Fortnately, the device was not live, according to the police.

In an apology, AFP Sydney Airport Commander Wayne Buchhorn said on Thursday noon, a dog training exercise had prompted them to leave it behind. "The AFP takes this error seriously and the canine instructor who inadvertently left this device behind has been identified and will be the subject of a formal Professional Standards Investigation," Commander Buchhorn said. Hence, the dog instructor who had left it at the airport is now undergoing grilling.

He added that though generally the public was not put into any kind of threat, at any time, they periodically look over their processes at that region. After the incident, they will repeat the process, he said. He thanked the woman and Cessnock police for their help.

He added that the training was important for the dog teams, as they permitted the dogs to go through any threats in a real environment. It was a serious situation that the AFP was involved in within weeks. The admission follows repeated claims by Asio chief, David Irvine, that it is thinking of raising Australia's terror threat levels as "high". In August, the AFP had inadvertently revealed some metadata that puts criminal probes into danger.