AviationYou wouldn’t believe the wacky ideas some people have in an attempt to bring prohibited items through airport checkpoints.

Fowl play suspected at US airports

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TSA agents found a gun concealed within the cavity of a raw chicken at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
TSA agents found a gun concealed within the cavity of a raw chicken at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Photo Credit: TSA

Why would you pack a raw chicken in your hand luggage when travelling through a US airport?

To cook for dinner later, perhaps? Or, in the case of one traveller at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida, the chicken concealed a gun that the passenger hoped to carry onto his flight.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials found the gun and later tweeted that the man’s attempt to fool security has been “a baste of time”.

TSA’s top 10 list of confiscated items in 2022 contained some unusual carry-on goods, such as a cattle prod in a guitar case at Dulles International Airport, a firearm hidden in peanut butter, an inert grenade, drugs covered by candy and a knife concealed inside a laptop.

At a Syracuse airport checkpoint, the security team found a 9mm gun loaded with 14 bullets hidden inside a man’s sling, inches from his hand. He claimed that he forgot he had his gun with him.

Not surprisingly, he was detained by local law enforcement.

Other crazy things passengers had hoped to bypass airport security with in 2022 include:
• Soiled money inside crutches
• Electric cattle prods inside a guitar case
• A gun inside a PlayStation
• Drug hidden in hair scrunchies

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