Officials caught a passenger trying to board a flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport Sunday with two stun guns stowed in his luggage, according to a published report.
The incident came less than 76 hours after authorities found a stun gun on a JetBlue plane that had just landed at Newark International Airport. Officials say the incidents appear to be unrelated.
In the latest incident, which happened just after 9 p.m. Sunday, a Transportation Security Administration screener spied the guns in the suitcase of Othon Mourkakos while conducting a routine X-ray exam, reports The New York Post
The 53-year-old passenger told authorities he did not know the guns were illegal in New York and that he had purchased them for his relatives in volatile Greece, according to the Post.
Meanwhile, authorities said Monday the cellphone-size stun gun found aboard the JetBlue plane arriving from Boston Friday didn't appear intended to be used in an attack.
Authorities would not identify the passenger assigned to the seat where the device was found in a seat-back pocket.
The FBI's office in Boston is leading the investigation into how the stun gun got onto the JetBlue plane, which departed from Boston's Logan Airport.
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Stun guns marketed for personal protection or shaped like cellphones are readily available online. There are also larger sizes, often shaped like pistols, that are increasingly being used by police departments across the country. Some organizations strongly oppose them, fearful they can be abused without clear guidelines.
The device, which usually works by firing wired barbs that stick into a person's body and deliver a powerful and immobilizing shock, are governed by restrictions in many states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts.
