TSA at BWI Airport: Don't bring prohibited items to security checkpoint
BALTIMORE - Holiday travel season will be here before you know it.
TSA agents at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport are warning travelers now to keep banned items out of your bags.
Loaded guns and knives are some of the items TSA officers confiscate daily at BWI.
Sometimes they find other strange items.
Security is reminding travelers to keep these things at home or your travel plans will be delayed.
In just two weeks, TSA officers at BWI collected cases of prohibited items.
The most common find are knives.
However, once in a while, a strange item will make it on the conveyor belt.
"Believe it or not the strangest thing I ever saw was an axe," said TSA officer Bryaneshua Hall.
With the holiday season approaching in about a month, Hall said finding more hammers, shovels and blades are not surprising.
"A lot of weapons come during the holiday time and it slows down our process," Hall said. "It's a lot. A lot of times the passengers don't even know it's there."
Firearms are another common find in carry-on bags, according to TSA Federal Security Officer Christopher Murgia.
"There are a lot of firearms, more so, than what we would like," Murgia said. "We are on track to probably beat our 2019 firearms coming through the checkpoint record."
Murgia said your firearm must be unloaded, in a locked case and checked at the airline counter.
"That can pose a civil penalty through the TSA and the government which could be substantial up into the thousands of dollars," Murgio said.
Offenders could also face potential criminal charges.
Murgia said the abandoned items are then donated to the state of Virginia.
"They sort, they package them, they actually resell the items," Murgio said. "Some of them are donated to other agencies."
But TSA does not receive any of the proceeds from those sales.
You can either visit the TSA website or download the My T-S-A app to help determine what items you can bring and how you should pack it to avoid any penalties.