A passenger has been charged after hiding 17 bullets in a disposable baby nappy while travelling through an airport in New York.
Officers pulled the diaper from the man's carry-on bag after it triggered an alarm in an X-ray machine at a security checkpoint in LaGuardia Airport.
Officials from the Transport Security Agency (TSA) said the passenger initially claimed he did not know how the diaper ended up in his bag. He later suggested that his girlfriend had put the nappy inside his luggage, the agency said.
The TSA identified the passenger as a man from Arkansas who had a ticket for a flight to Chicago’s Midway Airport, but did not disclose his name. Port Authority police charged him with unlawful possession of the 9mm ammunition.
It comes after TSA officers found a pistol and magazine loaded with six bullets concealed in a pair of Nike trainers in a bag at LaGuardia last month.
Firearms are allowed to be transported as checked luggage, but only in a locked, hard-sided container — not shoes.
In January 2021, officers at a security checkpoint intercepted 13 bullets hidden in a Mentos chewing gum container inside a carry-on bag. The bullets were mixed in with pieces of gum, the TSA said.
The passenger, who was charged with unlawful possession of ammunition, claimed the bag belonged to hisson, the agency said.
In April, officers pulled a loaded .22-caliber pistol and two boxes of ammunition — more than 100 bullets total — from a carry-on bag.
The passenger claimed he had been at a shooting range and forgot to remove the gun and bullets beforeheading to the airport, the TSA said. He was still arrested.
