Sep 30, 2007 11:59 pm US/Eastern
CBS 2 Exclusive: What Feds Confiscate At Airports
NEWARK (CBS) ―
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One month's worth of items confiscated at Newark Airport consisted of kitchen knives, nunchuckus, switchblades, baseball bats, brass knuckles, and shotgun shells. Another scary item confiscated included a belt, with blades hidden below a sheath.
CBS
You know the drill at the airport: empty your pockets, take off your shoes, and of course leave the knives and weapons at home. But every day, at almost every airport, dangerous security items are confiscated.
Over 1,200 flights come and go from Newark Airport each day. Federal security screeners check planes full of people for dangerous items, but even six years after 9/11, there are still those who try to slip weapons onboard.
Between 55,000 to 65,000 people pass through the security checkpoints at Newark Liberty International Airport each day. This year alone, security screeners intercepted 170,000 prohibited items.
One month's worth of items confiscated at Newark Airport consisted of kitchen knives, nunchuckus, switchblades, baseball bats, brass knuckles, and shotgun shells. Another scary item confiscated included a belt, with blades hidden below a sheath.
Luther Duke is a transportation safety officer who has seen it all.
When asked if it surprises him anymore to see what people will try to get through the checkpoints, Duke said, "actually, I've gotten used to it. I've seen this all the time."
But air travelers are shocked.
"That's insane to try to take something like that!" said one traveler.
Many of the items are simply tools or toys whose owners didn't realize were prohibited. But this year, four people tried to smuggle guns through Newark security. Some geniuses even thought a samurai sword would be okay.
Barbara Bonn Powell, the acting Federal Security Director at Newark Airport told CBS 2 it was usual for their screeners to spot dangerous items one or two times a day airport wide.
But how can someone explain trying to bring a samurai sword on an airplane?
"I can think of no logical explanation for that," said Bonn Powell. "The one that I see in here most often is that it was a souvenir."
It would become a souvenir of a trip to jail if officers suspect anything but simple ignorance, and arrests have been made. In the new era of terror, security experts are taking no chances.
"Those who would do us harm are trying to stay one step ahead of us," said Bonn Powell. "So they're always looking for items that are more difficult to detect and easier to carry."
Powell says the TSA worries constantly about the items not being found, but their greatest fear is liquid explosives. That's why we've all had to dump that too-large bottle of water or shampoo we forgot was in our bag.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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