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Pokémon cards mistaken for explosives by airport security

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Pokémon cards mistaken for explosives by airport security

Pokémon cards wreak havoc once again — this time at the airport.

Pokémon cards continue to wreak havoc around the world. This time, a “suspicious” set of cards got flagged by the TSA.

An unlucky Redditor posted about his nightmarish journey. The user claimed that he was going on vacation and brought along some Pokémon cards to gift to a relative. However, after going through airport security, he was pulled aside by an agent who told him that they had found explosives in his bag.

Thankfully, an interrogation and a few tests later, the traveller was free to go. “About 30 minutes later they let me go saying I’m all good,” he recalled. While he was cleared, he was still confused. He stated that he had taken the cards in and out of the country several times, but this was the first time they were ever flagged. “My question is… why would it ONLY come up this time and not the previous 4 times it’s gone through a scanner?”

Rare holographic Charizard Pokémon card.

Why airport security takes Pokémon cards so seriously

Someone claiming to be an aviation security officer in the comments of the Reddit post offered an explanation. “The xray operator will have seen the cards as a large mass of organic matter, the same as how explosives would show up on an xray. Individually there isn’t much to a card, however when you have a bunch of cards in a pack and then multiple packs and more energies etc all in one place it doesn’t look paper any more it looks like a block of explosives.”

The officer also explained why the TSA agents were so cautious. “As we all know, re sealing boxes in the pokemon community is a common practice. It wouldn’t take an actual terrorist much time or effort to re apply some shrink wrap, claim it is only new cards and prevent these officers from finding it.”

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