A smuggling attempt to sneak more than a dozen bullets on an airplane was recently foiled by the TSA at Newark International Airport in New Jersey after they discovered the live rounds in a tube of aluminum foil inside the passenger’s hand luggage.
TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said in a post on X that agents recovered 16 bullets during the incident after they found them meticulously wrapped in layers of aluminum foil – a foolish attempt to avoid detection in an X-ray machine.
Each bullet was individually wrapped in aluminum foil and then stuffed in a cardboard tube of aluminum foil which itself was inside the aluminum foil box. “Good try, but the TSA foiled the traveler’s attempt!” Farbstein said.
The find comes just weeks after a TSA agent at Newark Liberty found a live turtle inside a man’s pants during a routine pat-down search. The incident occurred when the passenger passed through the body scanner and activated for something suspicious in the groin area.
The TSA agent was then required to pat down the man’s groin and, at this point, realized that there was something odd down the passenger’s pants. When challenged, the man pulled out a live red-ear slider turtle, which was wrapped in a blue blanket.
“We have seen travelers try to conceal knives and other weapons on their person, in their shoes, and in their luggage. However, I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants,” commented Federal Security Director for New Jersey, Thomas Carter.
“As best as we could tell, the turtle was not harmed by the man’s actions,” Carter added.
The passenger was temporarily detained while he was questioned by the Port Authority Police, meaning that he missed his flight. There is, though, no word yet on whether he could face criminal charges.
As far as hapless smuggling attempts, however, perhaps a special mention should be given to the passenger who thought that he could smuggle methamphetamine through the TSA checkpoint at Philadelphia International Airport by hiding it inside a shotgun cartridge.
It’s worth mentioning that the TSA is only tasked with finding and stopping items that are specifically prohibited from being brought onboard a plane. While meth is, of course, illegal, drugs aren’t under the remit of the TSA, whereas shotgun cartridges most definitely are.
And when the TSA finds something illegal, whether it’s part of its primary objective or not, the agency is required to deal with it. In this case, the police were called and the man was arrested due to his foolish smuggling attempt.
