Xeque
next time take a small nylon hold all to put both your laptop and your briefcase in. I suspect it was the fact that you had two seperate items and just happened to get someone at check in who had no room for discretion ( these people are checked regularly by spy passengers to see if they are complying with the regulations). if they had both been in the one bag then they would have complied with airport regulations on security.
I don't like to see this happen especially if you've not had a problem with it before.
There's no use in people bumping on about how there grandad managed to get on with a canoe whilst sporting a handbag and never got stopped!
hope you don't get caught out like this again!