I’M A CELEB star Reverend Richard Coles was hilariously stopped at a Scots airport after security mistook his black pudding for Semtex.
Coles was flying home after a trip to the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Western Isles yesterday when he was stopped by suspicious airport staff.
While on the island, the 62-year-old had purchased himself a black pudding from Cross Stores & Butchers in Ness.
However, the souvenir caused the Reverend a bit of bother when airport security mistook the blood sausage for Semtex – a plastic explosive often favoured by terrorist groups.
Coles claims that the security scanner at the airport flagged up a suspicious object within his luggage, resulting in him being pulled aside.
With security officers believing the cleric to be harbouring explosives, they searched Coles – only to have their suspicions hilariously, and thankfully, proven wrong, finding only a Scottish breakfast staple on his person.
Semtex is made of PETN (Penaerythrite tetranitrate) and RDX (Research Development Explosive).
Semtex was originally developed for the Czechoslovakian military, but it became popular with terrorist groups because it was difficult to detect prior to the 2000s.
It has been used in several terrorist attacks, including in an IRA bomb that killed 11 people during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in 1987.
Sharing his story to social media yesterday Reverend Coles wrote: “Want to create a drama at the airport?
“Simply try to get a black pudding from the Isle of Lewis through security. The scanner thinks it is Semtex.”
His post has received over 30,000 likes and more than 1,600 comments from tickled social media users.
One wrote: “My husband did it with a bundle of Blackpool rock which we were taking to Finland. Looked like dynamite from a movie.”
Another replied: “I think you’ll find it tastes better than Semtex.”
A third said: “Every time I leave Ireland with white pudding. Same thing. I now have it about my person and declare it.”
Another commented: “Has a similar effect on the bowels (Stornoway black pudding is gorgeous).”
A fifth added: “Why anyone would want to eat black pudding is beyond me.”
