Thursday, September 10, 2009

Inert Grenade at Airport

There was a security alert this morning around 6:30 at Pittsburgh International Airport. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Ann Davis says the checkpoints and people mover train were shut down for about half an hour after what looked like a grenade was found in a passenger's carry-on bag. She says a bomb squad was called in and determined the grenade was inert. Davis says passengers have to make sure they don't have prohibited items...

"That you might ultimately have to surrender at the checkpoint or mail back to yourself. But more importantly, items that are either very dangerous or could be perceived as very dangerous. You need to give some consideration what an item might look like to a guard at a security monitor. Clearly a grenade, inert or not, has to be responded to the same way."

Davis says sometimes they would like to "get inside" passengers' heads to determine what they are thinking when they carry prohibited items with them. Davis refused to identify the passenger with the grenade, but said he was from Beaver Falls and after questioning was permitted to fly on to Philadelphia. Davis says after a review of the incident, TSA officials will consider whether to impose fines on the passenger.

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