Newark Airport lands on TSA’s Top 10 most unusual finds roundup following bizarre discovery

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A traveler’s attempt to hide a disassembled gun inside a Lego toy box landed Newark Liberty International Airport on the Transportation Security Administration’s annual list of wildest discoveries at checkpoints in 2024. 

A Mississippi man was busted in October after TSA officers discovered the 9mm gun parts artfully concealed inside the traveler’s carry-on as it was screened at the Terminal A security checkpoint, according to the federal agency. 

The gun’s frame was shoved inside the bottom of a boot just below a sock that had been stuffed behind it, with the slide, spring and magazine — loaded with 12 bullets — mixed with the plastic pieces of a Black Panther LEGO set, the TSA said. 

The bizarre sighting landed the New Jersey airport in the No. 8 slot on the agency’s Top 10 list of most unusual finds at checkpoints last year. 

“This is an example of someone who was intentionally attempting to carry a gun onto a flight,” Thomas Carter, TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, said in a statement about the Oct. 16 incident.

“He kept changing his story, first telling us that it was a toy gun and then claiming that it belonged to his brother. Regardless of his claims, what I can tell you is that it was a fully disassembled firearm that he could easily have assembled and used on a plane.”

Port Authority Police confiscated the firearm and arrested the unidentified traveler, who was scheduled to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the TSA said.

The federal agency poked fun at the incident in a three-minute, year-end video posted on YouTube that also showcased other instances of travelers aiming to pull one over on TSA agents across the country.

Other prohibited items highlighted in the video include live snakes smuggled in pants, drugs hidden inside crutches and peanut butter jars, weapons stashed inside laptops, lamps, shoes and a teapot, and a replica explosive made out of walkie-talkie. 

William P. Hobby Airport in Houston secured the top spot after agents intercepted a gun stuffed inside a baby stroller.