FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2014

TSA Week in Review – Grenade Discovered in Carry-on Bag at LAX

Grenade (LAX)

Grenade at LAX - A Mk 2 hand grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag at the Los Angeles (LAX) International Airport.

The Terminal 1 checkpoint was closed while the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team transported the grenade to an offsite location to be disrupted. Five flights were delayed 2 hours, 19 minutes, affecting 800 passengers. The individual was arrested and is facing felony charges in Los Angeles County.

Inert Ordnance and Grenades etc. – We continue to find inert hand grenades and other weaponry on a weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if an item looks like a real bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays because the explosives detection professionals must resolve the alarm to determine the level of threat. Even if they are novelty items, you cannot bring them on a plane. Read here on why inert items cause problems.


  • An inert grenade was detected in a checked bag at Tucson (TUS).

Firearm and Ammunition Discovered in Carry-on Bag at Bismarck (BIS)

46 Firearms Discovered This Week – Of the 46 firearms, 41 were loaded and 17 had rounds chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.

Credit Card Knife (MOB), Stun Phone (PVD), Throwing Knife (SMF)
Artfully Concealed Prohibited Items – It’s important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure prohibited items are not inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you could be cited and 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.


  • 52 credit card knives were discovered this week at checkpoints. Thirteen were discovered at Minneapolis (MSP), five at Tampa (TPA), four at St. Louis (STL), four at San Francisco (SFO), four at Nashville (BNA), four at Kansas City (MCI), three at Duluth (DLH), two at Colorado Springs (COS), and the remainder were discovered at Bismarck (BIS), Cincinnati (CVG), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Joplin (JLN), Long Beach (LGB), Manchester (MHT), Minot (MOT), Mobile (MOB), Montgomery (MGM), Newark (EWR), Orange County (SNA), Rochester (RST), and St. Cloud (STC). Check out this blog post for more information on credit card knives.
  • A small knife was sewn inside the lining of a traveler’s suit jacket at Milwaukee (MKE).
  • A 7-inch double edge throwing knife was detected in the lining of a carry-on bag at Sacramento (SMF).
  • A stun gun disguised as a smart phone was discovered at Providence (PVD).


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…
Cleaver (STL), Sparklers (PIT), Throwing Star (ANC)

Stun Guns – 20 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation: Four were discovered at Denver (DEN), two at Dallas Love (DAL), two at Phoenix (PHX), and the remainder were discovered at Atlanta (ATL), Baltimore (BWI), Burbank (BUR), Columbus (CMH), Honolulu (HNL), Kansas City (MCI), Minneapolis (MSP), Providence (PVD), San Francisco (SFO), and Spokane (GEG).

Firearms Discovered This Week in Carry-On Bags
Firearms Discovered at (Clockwise) - SDF, BZN, GSO, MCI, MEM, SDF, <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization"><acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym></acronym>, ILM, PHX

Firearms Discovered at (L-R) - ATL, MCO, OMA, SDF


*In order to provide a timely weekly update, this data 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 line 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 TSA Blog Year in Review for 2013. You can also check out 2011 & 2012 as well.

Follow @TSABlogTeam on Twitter and Instagram!

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

http://blog.tsa.gov/2014/05/tsa-week...iscovered.html