10.21.2011

TSA Week In Review: Loaded Guns & Landmines

Landmines Found at SLC
Yes, you read the title correctly. Landmines… TSA officers found in checked baggage at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) after our Explosive Detection System alarmed. SLC Explosive Ordnance Disposal arrived on the scene and determined the mines were inert. After all was said and done, all checked bags from that area had to be rerouted to other baggage systems and four flights were delayed 19 minutes.

Unloaded firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, stun guns, brass knuckles, assorted knives of all sizes and types, a collapsible baton, fraudulent IDs, nunchucks, and yet another darn replica grenade were among items found around the nation by our officers in passenger’s carry-on bags this past week.

King Midas in Reverse traveled through Newport News Williamsburg International Airport this past Thursday with a brick of gold that had ‘$10,000,000.00’ stamped on it. The police responded and while the gold was fake, the warrant against the individual was 100% authentic. The real fugitive, and his fake gold, were taken into custody by law enforcement.

This past Wednesday, a Transportation Security Officer's search of a suspicious bag at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport's C-Pier checkpoint yielded five credit cards and an additional driver's license... all belonging to different people, none of which belonged to the passenger. TSA contacted the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, who took the individual into custody.

In another incident, a passenger at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was placed under arrest after he got a little tipsy and was heard saying he was going to bring a bomb onboard the aircraft.

It’s no secret that we find drugs and concealed cash nearly every day. We find them both during baggage checks and also during screening with advanced imaging technology (aka body scanners). We’re not looking for drugs and cash, but they show up as anomalies in the same exact places where explosives could be hidden. That’s why these finds are significant. It shows that our technology and procedures work. Just this week at Westchester County Airport (HPN), a large mass was detected in a carry-on bag. After a bag search, a false bottom was located in the bag where over $50,000.00 of cash was bundled. Each bundle was wrapped in cellophane and a cloth that had been soaked in an unknown fragrant substance. The passenger’s ID was fraudulent and they were arrested by the Westchester County Police on state charges.

The TSA Week In Review appeared in a New York Times Editorial titled: Check-In at Dodge City. Also, a reader of the York Daily Record wrote a letter to the editor stating that they believe that “overall, the negative reviews of TSA are unwarranted.â€