LINTHICUM, Md. — Officials confiscated a missile launcher from an active military member’s checked luggage Monday at the Baltimore airport, the Transportation Security Administration said.
A TSA officer spotted the missile launcher while scanning luggage Monday morning at Baltimore Washington International airport. The officer immediately contacted airport police, who tracked down the owner of the bag. The bag owner, a man from Jacksonville Texas, said he was a member of the military on active duty traveling home from Kuwait. He wanted to bring the weapon home as a souvenir.
TSA determined the weapon was “not a live device,” the agency said. It was confiscated and given to the state fire Marshall for safe disposal. The man was then allowed to catch his flight.
The TSA said military weapons are not permitted in checked or carry-on baggage. Guns are only permitted when properly stored in checked luggage, never in carry-on bags.
So far in 2019, TSA has confiscated 20 guns from traveler’s carry-on luggage at BWI, leaving the airport on pace to find 35 such weapons this year, a 60 percent increase over 2018.
This story was originally published by Zachary Babo on WMAR in Baltimore.
