Thread: Arrest after firearm parts found Miami airport bag

Arrest after firearm parts found Miami airport bag

Associated Press
December 28, 2010 3:42 pm

The FBI says authorities have arrested a man who was carrying bullet parts that exploded in his bag at Miami International Airport.

Police had initially thought it was an aerosol can, but FBI spokesman Mike Leverock says it was bullet primers that ignited in the checked bag as it was being unloaded from a flight. Not all of the several hundred primers inside the bag ignited, and no one was hurt.

Leverock says there is no connection to terrorism. The man is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was traveling Tuesday on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Miami that was continuing to Jamaica. His name was not released.

The man has been charged with transportation of hazardous materials, which carries a potential five-year prison sentence if he is convicted.

http://azstarnet.com/news/us/article_c9 ... e7762.html

Jamaica-bound man arrested after bullet primers ignited in bag Miami International Airport
By Diana Moskovitz, The Miami Herald

8:21 p.m. EST, December 28, 2010

A 37-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after bullet primers ignited in his bag as it was being unloaded on the tarmac at Miami International Airport.

The Jamaica-bound traveler, a naturalized U.S. citizen whose name wasn't released, was charged with traveling in interstate commerce without a license to carry ammunition, FBI spokesman Special Agent Michael Leverock said.

The American Airlines flight from Boston to Miami landed shortly after 11:30 a.m. at Gate D-17. As the baggage was unloaded, a handler grabbed the man's black roll-on bag and placed it on the ground, when "something shoots out of it," Leverock said.

A piece of a primer hit the handler's boot, and part of the bag appeared singed, Leverock said. A bullet primer is the back end of a bullet that provides the spark to ignite the gun powder.

"It's the spark plug of a bullet," Leverock said. "He had a bag of several hundred of them. When one goes off . . . they all go off."

Fire-rescue personnel, a bomb squad and K-9 dogs responded and searched other luggage on the plane for anything suspicious. The incident did not appear to be connected to terrorism, Leverock said.

Four flights were delayed due to the investigation, airport spokesman Marc Henderson said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... 5496.story