A surprising discovery at Newark International Airport led to a passenger's arrest, while also landing the airport on the TSA's most unusual checkpoint finds list for 2024.
A Mississippi man was at Terminal A of the New Jersey airport on Oct. 16, when TSA officers stopped him for what was inside his carry-on bag. The officer detected a disassembled .9-mm handgun after running the duffle bag through the X-ray machine.
While the find itself wasn't all that uncommon, how the passenger attempted to hide it certainly was.
The TSA said the gun frame had been jammed in the bottom of a boot, below a sock that was stuffed in behind it in an effort to conceal the weapon. The rest of the handgun — the slide, spring and gun magazine loaded with 12 bullets — was detected among plastic building blocks inside a Black Panther LEGO set.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Port Authority Police were alerted, confiscated the items and arrested the man, who was set to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to the TSA.
"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 gun in the Lego box landed at No. 8 on the TSA's top 10 list of unusual items. The top item on the list was also a gun, but that one was found in a baby stroller at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Here's a look at the full list:
- Gun hidden inside baby stroller — William P. Hobby Airport
- Replica explosive made out of a walkie-talkie — El Paso International Airport
- Live snakes smuggled inside pants — Miami International Airport
- Meth hidden inside crutches — Portsmouth International Airport
- Gun hidden inside a teapot, alongside shot glasses — Portland International Airport
- Hiding vape inside toothpaste — Chicago Midway International Airport
- Knife hidden inside laptop — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
- Gun inside Lego box — Newark Liberty International Airport
- Knife hidden in shoe, and then the passenger denied knowing about it — Williamsburg International Airport
- Marijuana hidden inside peanut butter — Asheville Regional Airport
