FORT LAUDERDALE – The employees of the Transportation Safety Administration at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport say you never know what’s in a person’s carry-on baggage until it goes through the x-ray machine.
“So here we have grenades. Some are replicas, some are real,” TSA officer Ravyn Williams told Ted Scouten of CBS News Miami.
“One of them was actually an elderly lady,” she explained. “Her husband died and she just brought over his military memorabilia. And she didn’t know what was in it.”
Williams said she and her colleagues have seen all sorts of strange things come through. She then pointed to a display of self-defense items found at the security checkpoints.
“Here we have nunchucks. We have some throwing stars. We have two batons, guns, cat’s eyes,” she said, listing the items.
TSA Officers bear a great responsibility for preventing these dangerous items from getting on board an aircraft. In addition, several weapons found at the checkpoints were on display. Three of them were toys, but two were not.
“This is a 3D printed gun. This is also a 3D printed gun. They can’t go away. They look harmless, but they are actually real,” Williams said.
At Miami International AirportIn the first half of this year, 62 firearms were found in hand luggage, twice as many as in the same period last year.
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, TSA officers have found 50 firearms so far this year, compared to 70 last year. The airport is trying to reduce that number even further.
“We have an ongoing awareness campaign called ‘Pack the Fun, Not the Gun’ to educate travelers. The proper way to bring a gun while traveling is to carry it in checked baggage and not through security,” said airport spokeswoman Arlene Satchel.
Samurai swords, which were also not allowed, were also found at checkpoints. One was confiscated from a woman who had been given it as a gift and took it home.
“This is crazy. How can someone carry a samurai sword on an airplane? And a grenade?” asked passenger Johan Borneo.
One of William’s strangest but legal finds?
“Recently, a passenger passed by with a container of butter in which several cell phones were stacked on top of each other with tape and stuffed into the butter,” she recalls.
When Williams asked him why the phones were in the butter dish, he gave an interesting explanation.
“He said, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of stealing in my country. This is my way of hiding it from them when I get there,'” she said.
If you have questions about what you can bring on board an airplane or need details about transporting a firearm, visit TSA.GOV or social media at @AskTSA.
