<http://www.smh.com.au/breaking/2002/11/13/FFXVYV83G8D.html>
Porn fans trigger terror alert
Three men carrying strange-looking documents who took turns locking themselves in the toilets before take-off on a plane leaving Paris for Hong Kong, were thrown off the plane after causing a terrorism alert.
It then became clear they had only been relieving sexual urges, airport officials said.
The three men, sailors returning to their homes in the central Pacific nation of Kiribati after a long spell at sea, aroused the suspicion of staff on their Cathay Pacific flight when documents they were carrying appeared to relate to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, officials at Charles de Gaulle airport said.
The men then further aroused suspicion when they each visited the plane's toilets even before it took off.
Crew members then inspected the restrooms and noted what airport sources described as "suspicious white drops".
This information was passed on to police, who misheard it and thought the crew had found "suspicious white powder".
Police officers then discovered that the documents carried by the men in fact contained pornographic material and said this apparently explained why they had been in a hurry to visit the toilet.
Despite the innocent explanation, the plane's captain refused to let the men travel on his flight and they were taken off the aircraft, airport officials said.