Transportation Security Administration agents were forced to evacuate a checked baggage room at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport after discovering an anti-aircraft round of ammunition in luggage.
On Dec. 8 at 5:30 a.m. in Honolulu, X-ray technology alerted officers of a potential security threat during a routine baggage screening, a spokesperson for TSA told SFGATE in a statement. TSA officers and “an agency explosive specialist” reviewed the footage and contacted airport law enforcement: The team found a .50 caliber anti-aircraft round of ammunition inside the luggage.
The Hawaii State Sheriffs, Honolulu Police Department bomb squad and U.S. Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal responded and chose to evacuate the luggage room “out of an abundance of caution.”
TSA has the authority to issue “civil penalties” and each circumstance “is evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson said: “It is too early to say definitively what will happen.”
TSA found over 1,800 firearms at airport checkpoints across the country in the third quarter of 2023 alone, and the agency expects to break the 2022 record of 6,542 firearm interceptions by the end of the year.
