Ireland’s justice minister ordered an investigation Tuesday after explosives planted in an unsuspecting passenger’s luggage by authorities as part of a security test in Slovakia made their way to Dublin.

“Following contact … from the Slovakian authorities with the Airport Police at Dublin Airport, members of the Garda Síochána (Irish National Police) have recovered a small quantity of explosive material from the luggage of a passenger who had flown into Dublin from that country on Saturday last,” a statement from the Department of Justice said.

No explanation was given for why Slovakian authorities waited several days before telling their counterparts in Ireland about the situation.

Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern ordered national police to conduct a full investigation into the incident.

Slovakian Minister for the Interior Robert Kalinak has conveyed his government’s profound regret for this incident and will cooperate with the Irish investigation, according to the Irish justice department.

Police, working with an army bomb squad, closed off a section of central Dublin while they recovered 90 grams (3 ounces) of research development explosive, or RDX, placed in the luggage of a 49-year-old electrician at Bratislava Airport in Slovakia last weekend as part of a test of security procedures, Irish state media reported. The man was arrested and held for several hours before being released, according to national broadcaster RTE.

“It has since been established that this material was concealed without his knowledge or consent in the passenger’s luggage as part of an airport security exercise by the authorities in Slovakia,” the Department of Justice said.

Explosives were also placed in seven other pieces of luggage by Slovakian authorities, but were caught by security screeners, RTE reported.

“On their own, this type of explosive does need to be combined with other elements to make it into a bomb, but obviously this type of high-grade explosive is potentially extremely dangerous,” Commandant Gavin Young, an Irish Defense Forces spokesman, said in an RTE interview.

(Source: CNN)