Friday, December 14, 2012

TSA Week in Review: A Roundup of the Prohibited Items Discovered This Week

Fireworks - 20 fireworks – some without labels – were discovered in a checked bag at Norfolk (ORF) resulting in a 50 minute closure of the checked baggage area.


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.


A knife was found concealed in a metal food container (with food) at Sacramento (SMF).

  • A multi-tool with a knife was detected attached to the handle of the carry-on bag at Denver (DEN).
  • A sword cane was discovered at Kahului (OGG).




What Not to Say at an Airport – Statements like these not only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience many other passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:


  • When asked if he had any dangerous items in his bag, a Los Angeles (LAX) passenger stated “I have a bomb.” He then grabbed his boarding pass and walked away. The police stopped him. This resulted in a 16 minute closure of the ticketing area.


Stun Guns – Five stun guns were discovered this week in a carry-on bags around the nation: Baltimore (BWI), Sacramento (SMF), Peoria (PIA), Kahului (OGG), Los Angeles (LAX)

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-roundup-of.html