(Newswire.net — March 15, 2016) — Belgrade, Serbia – Two Hellfire missiles allegedly with explosive warheads were found in the cargo bay of an Air Serbia commercial airplane, that landed from Lebanon to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The bomb-sniffing dog from Nikola Tesla International Airport’s security, discovered the missiles in a bundle headed to Portland, U.S.A, the AP cited Serbian media.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances in which the cargo containing two U.S. Hellfire missiles headed for Portland ended up on a commercial jet heading from the Middle East to Europe.
CNN affiliate at the N1 television network in Serbia said the package which contained two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered on Saturday by a sniffer dog after an Air Serbia flight from Beirut landed at Belgrade airport.
Authorities say the documentation shows that the final destination for the two AGM-114 Longbow Hellfire missiles is Portland. It is confirmed that the missiles were found on a civilian flight from Lebanon to Serbia; however, the type of aircraft has not yet revealed.
Tanjug, the Serbian state news agency, reported that the missiles had been packed in wooden coffins and unloaded at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, where they were inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs.
The AGM-114 Longbow Hellfire, manufactured in 1984 by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrup Grumman, was originally developed as a lightweight but powerful radar-guided air-to-ground missile for Apache helicopters. Later, several other modifications were made which allowed the Hellfire to be launched from ground or a ship as a laser-guided missile.
It has not yet been confirmed which type of Hellfire missiles were found by security personnel at Belgrade’s intl. airport, however the most common type is a laser-guided version.
According to Lebanese army officials, the two missiles found on the Air Serbia plane were used for training and did not contain any explosives, the AP reported in a news update on Monday. The fact still remains that a bomb-sniffing dog trained to detect explosives detected the missiles.
A Hellfire missile weighs about 100 lbs and costs about $110,000 apiece. Most models use laser to hone in on their targets, although one version of the AGM-114 relies on radar.
The FBI in Portland said it is looking into the reports.
“We don’t have any information on that yet,” Jennifer Adams, an FBI representative, said Sunday afternoon, AP reported.
Serbian media reported on Sunday that Air Serbia is helping with the investigation. The incident happened in the eve of the U.S. authority’s decision to allow commercial flights from Serbia to US. Belgrade’s airport security has proven to its reputation of being one of the safest airports in the world.