After having screened 858 million people over the course of 2023, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has just released its annual top 10 list of interesting finds at airport security checkpoints nationwide. While some of the found items are funny, others tend to be shocking. Overall, the TSA encourages people to inform theirselves before heading to the airport about what they can and what they cannot take with them on a plane.
The TSA completed the list with pictures of all the strange finds, as well as a short description of how the items were found. Among the most surprising hiding places, a small knife was found inside someone’s prosthetic foot. “On the morning of September 16, 2023, a male traveler ticketed for travel to Fairbanks International Airport was screened at ANC through the body scanner in the south security checkpoint. During routine screening, the body scanner alarmed in the area of the traveler’s lower leg and foot. A TSA officer followed established screening procedures to clear the alarm when he came across a knife with a three-inch (7.5 cm) blade concealed in the traveler’s prosthetic foot”, the TSA explains on its website.
TSA notified officers with the ANC Airport Police Department who responded to the checkpoint. The officers then talked to the traveller who said he had forgotten about the knife, which had sentimental value to him. Because knives and other items with a blade are not allowed through the security checkpoint, TSA suggested the traveller put the knife in a checked bag, where he would not have access to it during the flight. However, the passenger chose to surrender the knife to the agents before continuing onto his flight.
Top 10 strangest finds
- Inert improvised explosive device (IED) tucked inside a Bang Energy drink, at Oklahoma’s Tulsa Airport
- Weed hidden inside a diaper, at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
- IED CO2 cartridge, at Sacramento International Airport
- Firearm fully loaded with 163 rounds of ammunition, at New Orleans Airport
- Knife hidden inside a prosthetic foot, at Anchorage Airport, Alaska
- 35mm projectile, at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, North Carolina
- Bag of meth inside a container of crab boil seasoning powder, at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
- Knife inside of a loaf of keto bread, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
- Four replica rockets, at Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport
- Naruto throwing knives discovered in a carry-on bag, at Boston Logan International Airport
