Methods of examining an item of luggage by means of an x-ray diffraction method

The invention relates to a method of examining an item of luggage 1, in which an X-ray fluoroscopic image of the whole item of luggage 1 is produced first, then planiform suspect regions 4, 5, 6 in the X-ray fluoroscopic image are determined and the scanning time during the following production of an X-ray diffraction image depends on whether the X-ray beam is located specifically in a planiform suspect region 4, 5, 6, wherein the scanning time heads towards zero outside a planiform suspect region 4, 5, 6 and lasts long enough inside a planiform suspect region 4, 5, 6 to obtain an informative X-ray diffraction image.