Look Out For More Flight Sanctions: U.S. Warns of Toothpaste Bombs

The U.S. has warned airlines with direct flights to Russia that explosives hidden in toothpaste tubes could be smuggled onto planes.

The DHS warning comes ahead of the opening ceremony in Sochi. Russia has already banned ALL liquids, pastes and gels from internal flights for the duration of the games.

Fears about security for the Winter Olympics in Russia were heightened following two suicide attacks in Volgograd in December, as well as numerous threats from Islamist militants in the Caucasus region.

The U.S. has also placed two warships in the Black Sea ready to offer help in a case of a security emergency during the Games. Security has not been the only controversy surrounding the build up to the Games.

Russia’s controversial laws on homosexuality, passed last year, have provoked international criticism, provoking Agenda 21 chief Ban Ki-moon to say his piece.

“Sport has an amazing power to spontaneously unite people,” he said. “We must raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people.

“We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face.” He told the International Olympic Committee yesterday. (source)

There seems no good reason why the Department of Homeland Security would pass up on the possibility of banning another substance from flights within the U.S. and those in U.S. airspace.