News

Don't Take This On Your Flight To Sochi

by Seth Millstein

If you’re considering flying to Sochi for the Winter Olympics — which you probably shouldn’t, given the atrocious state of the local hotels — don’t bring your toothpaste. The Department of Homeland Security is directing airlines to be on the lookout for toothpaste and cosmetic containers, as intelligence indicates someone might try and sneak a toothpaste tube bomb on board flights to or from Russia. While the intelligence is based on “very good information,” officials say that the U.S. itself isn’t the target of any threat.

"While we are not aware of a specific threat to the homeland at this time, this routine communication is an important part of our commitment to making sure we meet that priority," an official told ABC News. "As always, our security apparatus includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, and DHS will continue to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving threat environment."

CNN says the assumption is that “the threat would be on a departing flight from Russia,” but airlines with outbound flights from the U.S. have been placed on alert as well.

"It's real. It's real and we got very good information," another government source told CNN. "It's based on a credible source. We're taking it seriously so are other countries taking it very seriously."

U.S. and Russian officials are supposedly working together on this, which is surely a bit awkward, given the countries’ general animosity toward one another. But given that Russia has had three suicide bombings in the last three months alone, Kremlin probably officials don’t have much of a choice.