The two seemingly innocuous items that shut down a major Australian airport

The man who unwittingly plunged Victoria’s Avalon Airport into lockdown for several hours has blamed the disruption on a misunderstanding.

The lockdown on Thursday morning came after reports of a suspicious package by airport security. Flights were cancelled as authorities sent in robots to respond to the incident, which was initially reported as a bomb scare.

The package was later confirmed to be a laser hair removal device and a cylindrical cardboard hot chocolate container.

Speaking to Network 10 after his release, the owner of the items – a man who was not named – said authorities mistook his hot chocolate container for a military-grade plastic explosive.

“I just got some chocolate powder for my friends and my uncle over in Sydney,” the man said. “And they thought this looked like C4.”

“And you know, they had me stay in the car for four hours, and asked me a bunch of questions; they thought it was a bomb, and then they realised it wasn’t. Then they said ‘Is it illicit drugs?’. And then they got it tested, and that’s why it took so long.”

“I don’t blame them, it’s their job to do that. Shit happens.”

The man said he had a message for the hot chocolate company too. “I want to tell them not to pack their souvenir chocolate in such a suspicious way”.

Speaking to 7News, the man also said he was strip searched, which “wasn’t pleasant”, saying, “one officer hurled the f word at me”.

Earlier on Thursday, Victoria Police said at a press conference that the package was also found to contain a laser hair removal device, which the man did not comment on.

Police said the package was deemed suspicious after it was X-rayed by airport security. Victoria Police Inspector Nick Uebergang said it was then inspected further and “determined it not to be quite right” based on the way it was packed.

The Victoria Police bomb response unit sent in a specialist robot, which confirmed it was non-suspicious.

“It’s fair to say, too, that the person who had the bag probably wasn’t too co-operative with us to start off with, too, which made things a little bit difficult,” Uebergang said.

“It probably could have averted things, and we could have got out of here a lot quicker. Just he wasn’t giving us too much information at all on what was in his bag.”

The owner told 7News his evasiveness was due to his concern he might be framed for something else, and wanted to know if he needed a lawyer before answering their questions.

The police bomb squad were called to the regional airport at about 6am after security screening detected the item, forcing the airport to close its domestic terminal. A Melbourne man was initially detained, an airport spokesperson said.

Two flights to Sydney were cancelled, and a flight to Brisbane was delayed. The domestic terminal has since reopened, and the international terminal was not affected.

An airport spokesperson said:“The response demonstrated the vigilance of the screening and security processes, with precautionary measures taken immediately.”

Uebergang said Avalon had gone above and beyond with its security, and that he believed passengers affected by the cancellations and delays appreciated thorough security measures.

The airport spokesperson said the international terminal remained open. Passengers travelling from Bali touched down at Avalon at 6.55 am, and an outbound Jetstar flight to Bali is scheduled for this evening.

Two flights to Sydney were cancelled, Jetstar confirmed, while a morning flight to Brisbane has been delayed.

Manjeet Singh arrived at the airport about 7am to catch a flight to Brisbane for a business trip, but was directed by security to wait in the car park.

“Since seven, we’ve been in this car park ... there’s no arrangements, no bathroom, no toilet, no beverages, no nothing,” he said, adding that his flight had been delayed further. If there’s an incident, that needs to be dealt with – but [at the] same time, they need to take care of people who are stranded here.”

Singh said travellers had only been told it was a “security incident” by airport staff and that he’d received no communication from his airline.

When Vivian Grills arrived at Avalon airport about 7.30am, there was already a large queue of cars stretching back from the terminal. She was told there was a security breach and that she needed to park and wait in a nearby “paddock”.

Grills wasn’t overly worried about the bomb scare. “They’re doing their job,” she said. But the Brisbane-bound traveller felt the airport and airlines had not given passengers enough communication or support.

The airline texted passengers to confirm the airport was closed due to a security incident and that their flights had been delayed.

The security incident comes one day after a court heard details about an armed teenager’s alleged attempt to hijack a plane at Avalon Airport in March 2025.

It is alleged that a then-17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wore a high-vis vest and attempted to carry a gun onto a Jetstar flight to Sydney, before being stopped by a passenger.

The court heard he had allegedly started falling out with friends, made new friends who had “shown him the way”, and found his life’s purpose.

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