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TSA catches man smuggling gun parts in peanut butter jars
Despite seeming harmless, inside the peanut butter jars were firearm parts from a .22 caliber gun and a loaded magazine wrapped in plastic
December 26, 2022 6:59am
Updated: December 26, 2022 6:59am
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers caught a Rhode Island man trying to sneak a firearm past New York airport security by hiding it in peanut butter jars, according to the agency.
The man’s luggage set off the metal detector as it passed through the X-ray machine at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, prompting TSA officials to take a closer look at his luggage.
Inside his luggage, officers found two Jiff peanut butter jars. Despite seeming harmless, inside the peanut butter jars were firearm parts from a .22 caliber gun and a loaded magazine wrapped in plastic.
"The gun parts were artfully concealed in two smooth creamy jars of peanut butter, but there was certainly nothing smooth about the way the man went about trying to smuggle his gun," John Essig, TSA’s Federal Security Director for JFK Airport, said in a statement.
Police confiscated the gun parts and arrested the man, according to the TSA. The man faces a civil penalty of up to $15,000.
"You know our baggage screening officers at JFK airport weren’t nuts about this jarring find," TSA said in an Instagram post. "Everybody should know by now that packing your firearm, ammunition, and gun parts in a jiff isn’t the way to go.”
"There’s no need to get yourself in a sticky situation, be smooth and always package your items properly," the post continued.
The TSA has intercepted 6,301 firearms at security checkpoints, 88% of which were loaded, according to a press release from December 16. The number of weapons encountered is a significant increase from last year, when 5,972 firearms were intercepted.
