The Transport Safety Administration (TSA) in United State said that its security checks in 2014 at US airports turned up a total of 2,122 firearms discovered in carry-on bags at 224 airports.
One of the discoveries occurred when officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) opened a checked bag for a routine inspection and thought they saw household items, like baby wipes, coffee, lemonade mix and a box of cat litter but on looking closer, two disassembled 40 calibre handguns, 350 rounds of ammunition, and 58 bricks of marijuana (33 pounds) were found concealed in the products. The traveler was arrested on state charges by the Port Authority Police Department.
Other notable firearm incidents included a 94-year-old man who attempted to enter the checkpoint at LaGuardia Airport in New York with a loaded .38 calibre revolver clipped to his belt, another had a loaded .38 calibre firearm strapped to the passenger’s ankle before it was detected after walking through a metal detector at Cincinnati Airport and an assault rifle with three loaded magazines was also discovered at Dallas Love Field airport checkpoint.
TSA officials said that in addition to firearms, it found hand grenades in carry-on bags at Los Angeles International Airport, which delayed five flights for more than two hours and affected 800 passengers.
Heightened security at the nation’s airports meant that TSA personnel in 2014 screened more than 653 million passengers which represent about 1.8 million per day – an increase of 14 million from a year ago, according to the agency’s annual report.
The top five airports for confiscations according to TSA includes; Dallas/Fort Worth in Texas 120, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia 109, Phoenix International in Arizona 78, George Bush Intercontinental, also in Texas 77, and Denver International in Colorado 70.
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