Bullets hidden in a diaper discovered at TSA checkpoint

By Marnie Hunter, CNN

(CNN) — TSA officers found 17 bullets wrapped in an “otherwise clean” baby diaper on Wednesday inside a passenger’s bag at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the agency said in a news release.

The hidden 9mm ammunition was discovered after a male passenger’s carry-on bag triggered an alarm in a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint’s X-ray machine.

In its news release, the TSA referred to the discovery as a “new definition of ‘dirty diaper,’” and added that “apparently this guy needs a bullet-proof plan for packing his carry-on bag before heading to the airport for his next flight.”

The passenger, an Arkansas resident, initially said he didn’t know how the disposable diaper filled with bullets got into his bag, the agency said. Then he suggested that his girlfriend must have put it there.

Port Authority Police were notified, the TSA said, and the man was cited for unlawful possession of the ammunition.

The Port Authority confirmed a criminal summons for unlawful possession of ammunition was issued to the 20-year-old passenger.

The discovery Wednesday came the day before what the TSA is predicting to be the busiest day of the holiday travel period. The TSA is defining the holiday travel rush as a 12-day period that begins on Thursday, which is expected to see the most air travelers passing through security checkpoints.

Airports will also be especially busy on Friday, December 29 — which was the biggest day of the holiday rush last year — as well as Tuesday, January 2 for the rush of those returning home.

Passenger counts over the entire period are expected to be six percent higher than 2022, the TSA says.

CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

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