Washington DC Jan 28 2014 On Friday, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released its Blog Year In Review for 2013.
The annual review is a veritable gold mine of the bizarre things people have tried to bring on airplanes in the United States over the past year.
Some of this stuff has to be seen to be believed.
First off, the TSA found 1,813 firearms in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints last year. That’s about five a day, and represents a 16.5 percent increase from the year before.
Of those 1,813 guns found in 2013, 81 percent were loaded. The most guns were found at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with Dallas/Fort Worth International coming in second place.
Other items found in travelers’ carry-on bags in 2013 included 562 stun guns, black powder, inert demolition explosives, smoke grenades, flashbang grenades and flare guns.
Airport officers with TSA also found some interesting items in travelers’ checked bags, including a World War II-era bazooka (luckily it wasn’t a functioning weapon) and this rather realistic-looking suicide vest, which ended up being fake and belonging to an explosives instructor.
In a checked bag at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, officers found one of the strangest things of the year: human skull remains. The bone fragments were found in some clay pots in checked baggage, whose owners said they had “no idea” the skull pieces were in there.
Lastly, TSA agents found lots of walking canes with concealed swords inside them.