Unusual Item Seized At Newark Airport Made TSA ‘Top 10 List’ For 2024

NEWARK, NJ — One of the 10 “most unusual finds” at airport checkpoints around the nation last year took place in New Jersey, federal authorities say.

There are plenty of guns seized at Newark Liberty International Airport. A whopping 20 firearms were confiscated from travelers passing through security checkpoints in 2024 (as of Dec. 18) – a tie for the most in a single year, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

One of these incidents made the TSA’s top 10 list: a disassembled gun that was found inside a boot and a box of Lego blocks.

According to the TSA, one of its officers detected the disassembled 9mm handgun inside a Mississippi man’s duffle bag as it went through a checkpoint x-ray machine at Terminal A on Oct. 16. The gun frame was jammed in the bottom of a boot below a sock that had been stuffed behind it – apparently to help conceal it.

The gun’s slide, spring and gun magazine – which was loaded with 12 bullets – were found mixed among the plastic pieces of a Lego set, authorities said.

Port Authority police were alerted, confiscated the items and arrested the man, who was ticketed to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

“This is an example of someone who was intentionally attempting to carry a gun onto a flight,” alleged Thomas Carter, TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey.

“He kept changing his story, first telling us that it was a toy gun and then claiming that it belonged to his brother,” Carter said. “Regardless of his claims, what I can tell you is that it was a fully disassembled firearm that he could easily have assembled and used on a plane.”

According to the TSA, guns can be transported on a flight if they are unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided case and declared to the airline. The airline will be sure that the gun travels with checked baggage in the belly of the plane – never in the cabin.

• See Related: Disassembled Gun Found In Lego Box, Boot At Newark Airport

The TSA’s full “top 10” list for 2024 also included William P. Hobby Airport in Houston (#1), where a gun was found hidden inside a baby stroller, El Paso International Airport in Texas (#2), where someone brought a replica explosive device to the airport, and Miami International Airport in Florida (#3), where a passenger allegedly tried to slither past security with live snakes inside their pants.

SEIZED ITEMS AT NEWARK AIRPORT

You never know what you might find at the airport, according to the TSA – and Newark is no exception.

Here are some items that have been seized at the airport – or found – over the years:

• In January 2016, TSA officials reported that a wallet containing $5,000 in cash was found – and returned – at the airport.
• In December 2015, TSA agents confiscated a cane that had a sharp metal knife-like object concealed in its handle.
• In October 2015, officials found 10 pounds of cocaine and 88 Oxycodone pills hidden inside a variety of food products in a passenger’s luggage.
• In June 2015, TSA officials found a stash of marijuana hidden in Mary Jane candy wrappers.
• In June 2015, TSA agents found and successfully returned a $40,000 Chinese painting left behind by a passenger.
• In 2014, airport officials confiscated a curved hand sickle in a carry-on bag.
• In 2014, a passenger reportedly attempted to bring a meat cleaver through a checkpoint at the airport.
• In July 2016, airport officials seized three new swords that were brought to a TSA checkpoint.
• In January 2019, a man allegedly on his way to “military training” was stopped with an inert explosive device that appeared to be a golden grenade.
• In January 2021, a trained search dog found 88 pounds of prohibited “swine sausage” in a traveler’s luggage.

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