What you should know
- A device found in a handbag at the LaGuardia airport over the weekend that was initially deemed suspicious because it resembled a homemade bomb ended up being a homemade cigar humidor, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
- TSA officers saw the suspicious device in a handbag on Sunday, while the bag was being searched at the security checkpoint.
- “The tote bag contained two lantern-style lighters along with a homemade container made of nine-inch long PVC tubing and end caps, which resembled a homemade bomb. However, when an end cap was removed, a partially smoked cigar was discovered inside, “according to a TSA news release.
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NEW YORK – A device found in a tote bag at LaGuardia airport over the weekend that was initially deemed suspicious because it resembled a homemade bomb ended up being a homemade cigar humidor, according to the Transportation Security Administration. (TSA).
TSA officers saw the suspicious device in a handbag on Sunday, while the bag was being searched at the security checkpoint.
“The tote bag contained two lantern-style lighters along with a homemade container made of nine-inch long PVC tubing and end caps, which resembled a homemade bomb. However, when an end cap was removed, a partially smoked cigar was discovered inside, “according to a TSA news release.
The traveler, a resident of Hopewell Junction in New York, reportedly told authorities that he had made the item to serve as a home humidor for his cigars.
Later, TSA officials told the passenger that the flight crew and other passengers could easily mistake the item for a homemade bomb, an event that would cause panic. The authorities, therefore, could not allow him to take him to the plane. The man turned the item over to the TSA for disposal along with the torch lighters.
“Our TSA officers are on the lookout for explosive devices, and this certainly gave the impression that it could be a homemade bomb that someone was trying to get onto a plane,” said the TSA federal security director for the airport. of LaGuardia, Robert Duffy, in a statement. “Fortunately it turned out not to be an explosive device, but if he had taken it out during his flight, it could have caused panic. Replica weapons are not allowed on airplanes and this could easily have passed for an improvised explosive device. It was a good catch by the officers at the checkpoint. “
