Hitler would be proud.

WASHINGTON - December 21, 2010 - In the best spirit of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, Washington D.C. Metro Police started randomly inspecting bags and demanding travel papers at the Braddock Road and College Park Metro stations Tuesday.

The searches came in the wake of unsubstantiated claims by the government of recent terror plots and the same morning that an explosive device was allegedly found under a subway car seat in Rome.

The searches started at 7:30 a.m. and lasted about an hour at the Braddock Metro station.

During the searches, police randomly selected bags or packages and checked for hazardous materials using special technology. Screeners swabbed some bags and inspected them in a process that took less than a minute each.

Some common items, such as household chemicals, can prompt a positive test. Residue from a firing range also can trigger a positive test.

One Metro transit officer tells WTOP's Adam Tuss that "homemade bombs often come from household chemicals."

At Braddock Metro, one man was stopped for about 8 minutes because there was some sort of chemical substance on his bag. Police X-rayed the bag and went through it, finding nothing. They also took his identification and questioned him.