Friday, December 28, 2012

TSA Week in Review: Ten Grenades Discovered at Seven Different Airports This Week


Inert Ordnance and Grenades Etc. – We continue to find inerthand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if an itemlooks like a realistic bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays. I know they are cool novelty items, but it is best not to take them on a plane. Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

  • Four grenades were discovered in carryon bags this week at Salt Lake City (SLC), Harlingen (HRL), Tampa (TPA), and Miami (MIA).
  • Six grenades were discovered in checked baggage. Three at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), two at Albuquerque (ABQ), and one at Gulfport (GPT).


Items in the Strangest Places –It’s important to check your bags prior to traveling. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag, you could be cited and possibly arrested by local law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where prohibited items were found in strange places.



  • Three saw blades were discovered taped to the inside of an iPad case at Washington Dulles (IAD).
  • A razorblade was found in the waistline of a pair of jeans packed in a carry-on bag at Chicago O’Hare (ORD).


Stun Guns – Eleven stun guns were discovered this week in a carry-on bags around the nation: Two at Atlanta (ATL), three at Baltimore (BWI), and one each at San Francisco (SFO), Fayetteville (FAY), Denver (DEN), San Diego (SAN), Seattle (SEA), and Minneapolis (MSP).


Body Scanner Find This Week: A switchblade knife was discovered in the pants pocket of a passenger at San Diego (SAN).
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 -- to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are pictures of some of the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday. See a complete list below.




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. 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.

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

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http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/12/tsa-week-in-review-ten-grenades.html