A passenger was caught trying to board a flight in Maine last week with an ax and a homemade gun in his carry-on bag, according to the TSA.
TSA officers at the Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine, discovered the items Tuesday. Portland police responded and confiscated the firearm, New England TSA spokesman Daniel Velez said.
An ax and a homemade weapon.
(TSA)
Velez told MassLive the passenger was a 50-year-old man headed for Philadelphia. He was allowed to keep the axe, but he had to move it into his checked baggage.
TSA says police confiscated the homemade firearm.
(TSA)
Velez said this was the third detection of firearms at the Portland International Jetport in Portland this year.
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The discovery came just days before an announcement by the TSA that it has logged a record number of firearms found at airport security checkpoints across the country this year.
As of December 16, according to a TSA press release, the agency has prevented 6,301 firearms from passing security checkpoints this year, adding that more than 88% of them were loaded. That’s more than the 5,972 firearms detected at security checkpoints last year.
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The TSA is also increasing the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to $14,950, which is determined on a case-by-case basis “according to the circumstances of each case.”
Fox News’ Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
