TSA reveals 10 most 'unusual' finds at checkpoints in 2024
(WAVY/NEXSTAR) – A Lego set stuffed with gun parts and a sunglasses case filled with snakes were among some of the top "catches” that officers with the Transportation Security Administration made in 2024, according to the agency.
This week, the TSA released a video detailing the “Top 10 Best Catches” of the last year, highlighting some of the strangest or craftily concealed contraband that passengers have tried to sneak through checkpoints.
“You won’t believe what people brought to the airport,” the agency wrote alongside a video showcasing the prohibited items.
Among the top catches, the TSA listed a disassembled gun found within an “Avengers”-themed Lego set detected at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport in October. The passenger, from Mississippi, was arrested before his flight to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.
“He kept changing his story, first telling us that it was a toy gun and then claiming that it belonged to his brother,” Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, said in a statement included with a TSA press release about this year's "unusual" finds. “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.”
Other odd discoveries included a knife blade hidden among the hardware of a laptop, a vaping device stuffed inside a tube of toothpaste, and a replica of an improvised explosive device (IED), complete with a label reading “INERT." Officials in Miami also detected a bag of snakes inside a passenger’s pants — a find that scored pretty high (No. 3) on the “top catches” list.
The No. 1 spot, however, was reserved for a gun found inside the pocket of a baby stroller at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas. (Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time such a find has been made by the TSA.)
“Wow. I have a new appreciation for y’all keeping us safe from the weirdos,” one viewer commented on the video, which was published Tuesday.
Unclear of what is and isn’t allowed through a TSA checkpoint? The agency’s website offers a list of prohibited items, as well as a rundown of the possible penalties for violating the rules.