Here's What People Tried to Sneak onto Airplanes in 2014
Nearly 2 million people pass through airport security every day in the United States, and some of them have packed things in their bags that they definitely shouldn't have. It's the job of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents to find those things, and if their annual year in review post is any indication, agents were very busy in 2014.
Last year, agents found 2212 guns in checked bags, a 22 percent increase from 2013. Disturbingly, 83 percent of the guns discovered were loaded. The record for most firearms found in carry-on bags was June 4, when 18 guns were found at airports across the country.
But it wasn't just guns that the TSA discovered: They also found things like a homemade avalanche charge, 140 novelty or inert hand grenades, an inert training warhead, and a WWII era blasting machine. And then there were the knives, which TSA agents found hidden in a highlighter and a neck pillow at Philadelphia International Airport; in a laptop's hard drive caddy at Dayton International Airport; and in a potato chip bag at Texas's Amarillo airport. And good thing no one bit into this enchilada that someone tried to take through security at California's Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport—there was an 8.5-inch knife inside!
Someone even tried to hide razor blades in a Scooby Doo greeting card at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.
And, finally, a note to drug smugglers: Don't try to conceal your drugs inside a package of raw meat in your checked bag (San Jose International Airport) or in a hollowed out textbook (Philadelphia International Airport). The TSA will find them.
For more on what the TSA found in luggage in 2014, read the whole blog post—complete with crazy photos—here.