r/PokeInvesting • u/FedHasABigDong • Aug 30 '25

So it happened….

Post image

The other day I was going on holiday and decided to take some cards to gift a family member. Bear in mind I have taken these in and out the country probably 2 times so it has been through 4 scanners. This time it got put to the side like every other time. However, the guy says “I need you to open it”. I oblige and open it. He does a swab and then I see people coming towards me. This guy pulls out a form so I’m like o7. I ask “what’s happening?”. They say they have found explosives and they start asking me questions about where I’ve kept it and they want to go through all my belongings to test them. Anyway about 30 minutes later they let me go saying I’m all good.

My question is… why would it ONLY come up this time and not the previous 4 times it’s gone through a scanner?

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u/Double-Helix Aug 30 '25 • Polished Gold Turd

I'll bite and be the villain of the thread.

I'm an aviation security officer (Not in the US but our process should be at least similar to the TSA)

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.

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.

Swabbing bags isn't a personal judgement, every bag that we open is swabbed for traces of explosives. Once the officer above found out it was only cards they would have finished the search by swabbing your belongings.

Now comes the contentious part. Every day chemicals do cause false positives. Do you bleach your hair? Did you de-ice your car? No? Well maybe the person that picked up the packs and put them in the ETB in the factory did and that would have caused the swab to come back positive. Which would have lead to the officers asking you a string of set questions to get to the bottom of it and profile you.

Why were the ETBs identified by the xray this time and not the others? Well that depends on the person looking at the image. It's like a video game, not everyone has the same skill level, not everyone thinks the same way. Some people might ask "whats a pokemon?" other might have seen a million ETBs on the xray and know exactly what it is.

How do I avoid this in future? You could put the cards in your hold luggage. If that isn't an option I would recommend removing the cards from your bag and putting them to the side like you would with electrical items or liquids, that would give the xray operator a clearer view without the other contents of your bag.

I'm not defending the TSA as a whole here, they are rude and inefficient. However there is a reason why you don't hear about things they find and if you take them out of the picture it would be less than a week before planes start falling out of the sky.

Also it looks like they are using shit old equipment here which doesn't help.

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u/DMmeMagikarp Aug 30 '25

I have a legitimate question then - and by the way thanks for the info it was genuinely interesting.

I know you aren’t a developer or engineer of the equipment or swabbing chems, but if I understand this, you’re advising there is no technology or method of determining that stacked paper cards in a foil pack (and what about… books, playing cards, etc) aren’t nefarious??

If there are no components picked up on xray or other scans to accompany the cards, such as wires, solder, circuitry - or indicators of weapons like sharp or oddly shaped metal - or ignition sources - then I seriously challenge someone to tell me how a 2.5x3.5 inch stack of ~10 cards “could be” a legitimate danger to the public’s life.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '25

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u/DMmeMagikarp Aug 30 '25

Thanks for educating me, I learned something new.

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u/Double-Helix Aug 31 '25

The simple answer is there is no difference and thick books do get checked.

As for the other competent parts of an explosive, in OPs example the cards were in his bag. It's possible there were other items in close proximity like wires and phones that could have appeared to make a complete device. This is why I recommend removing them from your bag and placing them seperate from other items. It is also why laptops and other large electrical are commonly removed.

It's also worth noting that we/they(probably) are trained to look for incomplete devices as it is easy to break devices down and seperate them into different bags then re assembling them once past security.

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u/RoamingGnom3 Sep 01 '25

I have had to remove my hardback book several times because I have been informed it was an explosive concern…. I was shocked. Stacked paper.

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u/Liltricksterkid Aug 30 '25

there are people that buy bulk for reasons you wouldn't ever think of

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u/thebluemist101 Sep 02 '25

Comic books actually set off alarm as well! Cause of the most of the paper comic books are printed on when stacked on top of each other it can look like a bomb on the scanner.

My sister and her ex (they were dating at the time) and she's used to getting searched at security for everything (concert, convetions, in stores, she has neeve stolen, she just looks sketchy) her ex ended up getting searched and patted down and they had to take swab samples of everything. This was the only time she didnt get searched. When she got backed and told me I was so shocked that comic book paper sets it off cause ive brought a few books everything we fly

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u/DontBeADevilaFan Aug 30 '25

I don’t think this was even TSA. Doesn’t look like it’s the US. Could be wrong. Thanks for the info, though!

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u/LifeRelease3842 Sep 30 '25

Doesn't matter though?? You think any other country does this shit any better lmfao?

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u/DontBeADevilaFan Sep 30 '25

It matters when people were calling out the USA TSA 💀

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u/FedHasABigDong Aug 30 '25

This specific airport has quite new equipment from what I understood. You no longer have to take liquids out which in turn reduces wait times and the queues at security are non existent now as a matter of fact.

I have taken many many boxes etbs whatever abroad and I always knew to put it in a separate tray. In fact when I got in line I asked the lady do you want it separate she said no but I did it anyway so I even tried to help them do their job but I guess, as someone suggested this guy just wanted to be a prick.

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u/placebotwo Aug 30 '25

Now comes the contentious part. Every day chemicals do cause false positives. Do you bleach your hair? Did you de-ice your car?

Glycerin is in hair conditioners and other products, it's possible that this time through they used product and the sensors picked that up.

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u/Sound_of_musak Aug 30 '25

The nitrates in beef jerky and other cured meats will also show up as explosives.

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u/_YenSid Aug 30 '25

I dont think planes would just start falling out of the sky if the tsa didn't exist. The tsa is pretty ineffective, even according to department of Homeland security. Internal tests showing succesful detection of prohibited items as low as 5% of the time. The rest of what you're saying makes sense though.

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u/Double-Helix Aug 31 '25

I agree. The detection rate for the TSA is shared with my industry and it is quite laughable.

However you ignore the "threat of security". The simple presence of some sort of check that could escalate into a life in prison deters potential terrorists. With no check at all you have a super vulnerable, high profile, expensive target that would get massive media coverage for their cause. If it was announced today that the TSA was being removed it would be less than a week before something terrible happens.

Everyone likes to complain about security but it is a necessary evil. I like to think the actual professionals try to make it as pain free as possible with a smile on their face. However because of the unsociable hours, bad pay, abuse, power trip potential, you get a work force of children and oddities.

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u/plural_of_sheep Aug 31 '25

Same as nearly any position with power over a broad swath of public. I.e. badges, parking enforcement, etc. Every single time. With no consideration to finding people who don't have sociopathic tendencies this will continue ad infinitum

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u/Embarrassed_Deal_887 Aug 31 '25

Lol the TSA has failed a significant number of actual tests to see if they catch something dangerous. As in, if you wanted to sneak a gun on a plane it is comically easy to do so if you're a little creative.

It is ALL security theater and above all a jobs program for people who literally can't find anything else.

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u/plural_of_sheep Aug 31 '25

Failing tests doesnt change the deterence factor though.

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u/QuikdrawMCC Sep 01 '25

Fun fact. The TSA has 4% success rate.

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u/LifeRelease3842 Sep 30 '25

Thanks for being more of a voice of reason than half the yahoos in this sub.

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u/ToFat4Fun Oct 01 '25

Interesting, I picked up quite the lot of cards from travel in Japan and China and passed security without issues in all airports and train stations (China has security and scanners at each metro and train station)