Newark Liberty International Airport made it into the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Top 10 List of most unusual items detected at airport security checkpoints in 2024.
A Mississippi man was arrested by police on Oct. 16, 2024, after TSA officers at Newark Liberty International Airport intercepted disassembled gun parts artfully concealed in a boot and a LEGO box.
The TSA officer detected the fully disassembled 9mm firearm in a carry-on bag at a checkpoint in Terminal A as the man’s duffle bag entered the checkpoint X-ray machine. The gun frame was jammed in the bottom of a boot below a sock that had been stuffed behind it to help conceal it. The gun’s slide, spring and gun magazine loaded with 12 bullets were detected mixed among the plastic pieces of a Black Panther LEGO set.
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,” said 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. 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.”
The original announcement can be found here.
