skyangelnflight
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- Aug 22, 2002
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(KRT) Last month, a man with a hacksaw blade within his shoes tried to get past a checkpoint at Miami International Airport. In January, a passenger hid a gun inside a DVD player in his carry-on.
Miami International ranks among the top three airports in the nation for its volume of intercepted items, as passengers still try to board planes with hundreds of concealed weapons each day, said Richard Thomas, acting federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at MIA.
The airport has also been the target of specific intelligence threats during the past seven months, though none of the threats has been verified, Thomas said.
"Typically, it's the airports with high international traffic that have the biggest volume of confiscations," Thomas said, citing Los Angeles International and New York's John F. Kennedy International, along with Miami.
But smaller, mostly domestic Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (Fla.) International is not exempt from concealed weapons. Earlier this month, screeners confiscated a stun gun disguised as a cellphone at a checkpoint there, and they also have intercepted the usual knives, guns and other prohibited items, said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover.
Nationwide, nearly two years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the number of confiscated weapons is showing no signs of tapering off.
July marked a record for the number of prohibited items: 640,891. That surpassed the highest previous month, June, which generated 597,310 items.
At MIA, a traveler once attempted to bring a container of gasoline on board a flight, and another passenger carried a lighter that turned into a knife. That's in addition to spear guns, blowguns, dart guns and souvenir machetes that passengers regularly tote through security.
Several passengers, including the man who had the hacksaw blade inside his shoe and the other with a gun inside his DVD player, have been prosecuted, Thomas said.
Overall since February 2002, when the TSA assumed responsibility for screening, more than 7.5 million items have been intercepted nationwide, Thomas said. Among them: nearly 1,500 firearms, almost 2.3 million knives and 49,331 box cutters - the weapon used by the Sept. 11 terrorists.
With Labor Day approaching, the TSA is advising passengers to remove their shoes when they pass through the checkpoint to avoid the need for secondary screening and to pull out any electronic items from their carry-on baggage.
Recent intelligence reports have indicated that terrorists may try to conceal weapons in electronic equipment. So screeners are paying extra attention to cellphones, compact-disc players, radios, cameras and flash attachments, keyless lock openers and laptop computers.
The TSA also recommends that passengers arrive early at the airport and place undeveloped film in carry-on bags. You should also leave checked baggage unlocked and avoid overstuffing checked bags.
"Overstuffed bags are more difficult to close once opened, which could result in delays for checked luggage," Thomas said.
Miami International ranks among the top three airports in the nation for its volume of intercepted items, as passengers still try to board planes with hundreds of concealed weapons each day, said Richard Thomas, acting federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at MIA.
The airport has also been the target of specific intelligence threats during the past seven months, though none of the threats has been verified, Thomas said.
"Typically, it's the airports with high international traffic that have the biggest volume of confiscations," Thomas said, citing Los Angeles International and New York's John F. Kennedy International, along with Miami.
But smaller, mostly domestic Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (Fla.) International is not exempt from concealed weapons. Earlier this month, screeners confiscated a stun gun disguised as a cellphone at a checkpoint there, and they also have intercepted the usual knives, guns and other prohibited items, said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover.
Nationwide, nearly two years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the number of confiscated weapons is showing no signs of tapering off.
July marked a record for the number of prohibited items: 640,891. That surpassed the highest previous month, June, which generated 597,310 items.
At MIA, a traveler once attempted to bring a container of gasoline on board a flight, and another passenger carried a lighter that turned into a knife. That's in addition to spear guns, blowguns, dart guns and souvenir machetes that passengers regularly tote through security.
Several passengers, including the man who had the hacksaw blade inside his shoe and the other with a gun inside his DVD player, have been prosecuted, Thomas said.
Overall since February 2002, when the TSA assumed responsibility for screening, more than 7.5 million items have been intercepted nationwide, Thomas said. Among them: nearly 1,500 firearms, almost 2.3 million knives and 49,331 box cutters - the weapon used by the Sept. 11 terrorists.
With Labor Day approaching, the TSA is advising passengers to remove their shoes when they pass through the checkpoint to avoid the need for secondary screening and to pull out any electronic items from their carry-on baggage.
Recent intelligence reports have indicated that terrorists may try to conceal weapons in electronic equipment. So screeners are paying extra attention to cellphones, compact-disc players, radios, cameras and flash attachments, keyless lock openers and laptop computers.
The TSA also recommends that passengers arrive early at the airport and place undeveloped film in carry-on bags. You should also leave checked baggage unlocked and avoid overstuffing checked bags.
"Overstuffed bags are more difficult to close once opened, which could result in delays for checked luggage," Thomas said.
