American tourist fined after bringing unexploded WW2 shell to Vienna airport

[Irminsul]

An American tourist was charged and fined after bringing an unexploded World War Two shell to Vienna airport in her luggage, Austrian police said on Tuesday.
[...]
She kept the shell in her belongings as a souvenir and declared it to customs officers when she came to the airport on Monday, who immediately rang the police.

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Source: https://www.thelocal.at/20180710/am...inging-unexploded-ww2-shell-to-vienna-airport

Well. I guess she at least actually wanted to declare the shell to customs?

In case you're wondering how big this thing was, here's a picture from another news article:

In case you can't make it out, that's a 30 cm ruler (roughly a foot long). Yeah.

 

[Kinthey]

How stupid can someone be?

 

[Daniel Westlake]

Why would you think this would be alright? I mean I'm glad she tried to declare it but like fam come on.

 

[platocplx]

i wonder if its still active lmao. holy crap thats insane she got that far without killing herself or others.

 

[Syriel]

"Well, it hasn't exploded yet...maybe I'll BRING IT ON A PLANE! YOLO!"

 

[Coyote Starrk]

How fucking dense do you have to be to not only see an unexploded bomb and say "I'mma carry that" but to then say "I'mma carry that to an airport and show it off to security"




How does someone that stupid tie their own shoes?

 

[I am a Bird]

Ya, no one's ever heard of an unexploded artillery shell being jostled years later and killing someone. It just never happens, ever, at all.

 

[JeTmAn]

It's amazing how long unexploded artillery can last. I was in Austria in 2003 and there was a controlled detonation of an old WWII bomb in Salzburg, the town I was visiting.

 

[Cantaim]

That lady was trying to win the Darwin Award wasn't she?

 

[Deleted member 9838]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

 

[ObbyDent]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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It's extremely dumb. People in Europe still die from this shit

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

I want one.

 

[Schreckstoff]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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Nope it's fucking intact, stupid af.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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Yes it is. Why would anyone think its a good idea to grab unexploded ordnance and bring it to a fucking airport. What the fuck.

 

[Brannon]

You're really not supposed to even move those things, so she's lucky the fine is all she gets to suffer.

 

[Verelios]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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Might still go off, which is the problem.

 

[Deleted member 17092]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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Wut.

 

[Deleted member 9838]

It's extremely dumb. People in Europe still die from this shit

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and it's an American tourist who might not know anything about this stuff. If someone showed me that and said it was an unexploded shell I wouldn't know what to think but apparently peoplr are saying in here they are dangerous. She might not have had that information.

 

[SuperBanana]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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It's not dumb to take an old, rusty explosive on to a plane?

 

[Deleted member 10629]

and it's an American tourist who might not know anything about this stuff. If someone showed me that and said it was an unexploded shell I wouldn't know what to think but apparently peoplr are saying in here they are dangerous. She might not have had that information.

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Then she had no business carrying that stuff around.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Oh boy, if this woman would have been a Muslima.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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You're right, everybody knows a grenade can't explore anymore once it's "rusty and shit".

 

[Coyote Starrk]

It occurred to me just now. If this had gone off in the airport and done serious damage would the authorities have had any idea it was unintentional and the actions of a moron?

 

[Deleted member 8408]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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No.

Its dumb.

The things I read here sometimes....

 

[Hagi]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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Nah I'll take that's dumb as fuck for 200 alex.

 

[pj-]

It's not dumb to take an old, rusty explosive on to a plane?

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Maybe she didn't know it was explosive? To a lot of people, especially ones from places not bombed in ww2, it could just look like a large (fired) bullet

 

[okayfrog]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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I think people are understandably bothered seeing as how she brought a bomb into an airport.

 

[SkyOdin]

and it's an American tourist who might not know anything about this stuff. If someone showed me that and said it was an unexploded shell I wouldn't know what to think but apparently peoplr are saying in here they are dangerous. She might not have had that information.

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Unexploded means that there are still explosives inside the shell. It's a bomb. Those old unexploded shells occasionally still explode and kill people to this day.

 

[John Dunbar]

edit: wrong thread

 

[Mcfrank]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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It is exactly as dumb as everyone is making it out to be.

 

[SuperBanana]

Maybe she didn't know it was explosive?

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Which is dumb. It's a massive round of ammunition. What do you think is inside it? Candy?

 

[Dyle]

Souvenir thieves are usually not quite this dumb. I'm impressed that she managed to make it all the way to the airport without someone noticing it or having the common sense to realize what she was doing was incredibly dangerous

 

[samoyed]

Bringing a bomb into an airport because you're unaware of some basic history makes you dumb, yes. At the very least, ignorant to an extremely dangerous degree which is usually synonymous with "dumb".

 

[Landy828]

Which is dumb. It's a massive round of ammunition. What do you think is inside it? Candy?

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She probably thought it was a solid piece of metal.

She's still an idiot though...so I'm not defending it, lol. Morons messing with things they don't understand.

 

[vacantseas]

Sounds like something my Trump loving co-worker who loves everything WW2 related would do.

 

[Deleted member 8408]

and it's an American tourist who might not know anything about this stuff. If someone showed me that and said it was an unexploded shell I wouldn't know what to think but apparently peoplr are saying in here they are dangerous. She might not have had that information.

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Actually you're right. It's not a gun so she probably thought it was ok.

Silly me.

 

[Grimminski]

The level of stupidity on display here is uniquely american

 

[Primal Sage]

That it's old and rusty actually makes it a lot more dangerous than a shiny new one.

Which would you rather a tourist carries onto a plane, a bomb or an unstable bomb?

 

[pj-]

Which is dumb. It's a massive round of ammunition. What do you think is inside it? Candy?

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IDK, are there not non-explosive large rounds? Maybe she thought it was solid metal

TBF, I think it's worse that she dug it up in the first place. If she thought it wasn't dangerous, then she should have reported it as a historic artifact

 

[Coyote Starrk]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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The woman picked up and unexploded bomb and carried it into an airport.



If that isn't dumb then I idk what is.

 

[Kasai]

Unexploded military ordinance was one of my major fears when I was traveling in Europe.

There's a lot of stuff still hidden, because it's not like anyone marked the locations of this stuff.

 

[Imperfected]

IDK, are there not non-explosive large rounds? Maybe she thought it was solid metal

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At that size? Maybe if we missed a few secret Nazi railguns no one ever mentioned.

 

[Version 3.0]

Even if she's dumb enough not to consider the possibility of it being dangerous, she should also think that it might not be okay to remove a historical artifact (that's what she thinks it is) without at least some kind of due process.

 

[Strike]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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You've never heard about people still dying or getting maimed from old landmines?

 

[Drain You]

That is quite honestly scary. Crazy some people don't just put the basic thought into "Wonder what's inside this thing?"

 

[hobblygobbly]

Basically all bombs dropped from planes that haven't detonated are armed (i.e from impact or whatever arming mechanism), this means they can still detonate.

For example, clock-based mechanisms may have for some reason stopped working after being armed, but moving the bomb could cause it to start ticking again.

 

[mutantmagnet]

I wonder if Austria even allows transport of explosives. Many countries do but you have to transport on special planes. You can't put that on a passenger craft.

 

[Anti]

Not surprised at all.

 

[Mr. X]

Y'all hating right away but look at it all rusty and shit. It's old as hell and a lot of people might just see it as a historical souvenir and not dangerous. Also she declared it. This isn't as dumb as people are making it out to be.

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It's live munition lol. It can still get set off.

 

[Azerach]

I was expecting it to be a deactivated shell... Holy fuck what the shitting dicknipples are you thinking!! Those things can go off at the slightest touch.