TSA Week in Review – Avalanche Control Charge Discovered in Carry-On Bag at Anchorage
Live Explosives Discovered in Anchorage- A homemade avalanche control charge was discovered in a carry-on bag at Anchorage (ANC). FBI responded and arrested the passenger.
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| Loaded Firearm (IND) |
26 Firearms Discovered This Week – Of the 26 firearms, 21 were loaded and three had rounds chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.
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| Belt Buckle Knife (SJC) |
Artfully Concealed Prohibited Items – It's important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure no prohibited items are inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you could be cited and quite possibly arrested by local law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where prohibited items were found by our officers in strange places.
- A bullet was discovered in the sole of a shoe at New York Kennedy (JFK).
- A belt buckle knife was discovered at San Jose (SJC).
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| Knives Discovered at (L-R) SAN & MFE |
Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, Airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things…
Stun Guns – 16 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation. Two were discovered at LaGuardia (LGA), two more at Kansas City (MCI), and the remainder at Billings (BIL), Borinquen (BQN), Washington Dulles (IAD), Cleveland (CLE), Fayetteville (FAY), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago Midway (MDW), Minot (MOT), Minneapolis - St. Paul (MSP), Phoenix (PHX), and Tucson (TUS).
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| Stun Guns Discovered at (L-R) LGA, MDW, BIL, PHX |
Airsoft Guns – An Airsoft gun was discovered in a carry-on bag this week at Honolulu (HNL). Airsoft guns are prohibited in carry-on bags, but allowed in checked baggage. Read this post for more information: TSA Travel Tips Tuesday: Traveling With Airsoft Guns
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| Airsoft Gun (HNL) |
Firearms Discovered This Week in Carry-On Bags
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| Firearms Discovered at (L-R / T-B) LAS, TPA, MCO, IAH, IAH, SAT, TUL, PDX |
*In order to provide a timely weekly update, date is compiled from a preliminary report. The year-end numbers will vary slightly from what is reported in the weekly updates. However, any monthly, midyear, or end-of-year numbers TSA provides on this blog or elsewhere will be actual numbers and not estimates.
You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.
Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it's great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. The passenger can face a penalty as high as $7,500.00. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.
If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you check out our post highlighting the dangerous, scary, and downright unusual items our officers found in 2012. The 2011 list can be found here.
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