Agents with the Transportation Security Administration discovered a grenade inside a man’s carry-on luggage at LaGuardia Airport in New York, the agency confirmed Tuesday.
TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein shared a photo of the explosive on X along with a caption reading: “Yes, it’s a real grenade. Fortunately it was inert.” That means the hand bomb was hollowed out, rendering it safe and unable to explode, per United States Marine Corps.
The weapon was discovered on Monday inside an unidentified passenger’s suitcase as he moved through security inside LaGuardia, NBC News reported. He told authorities that he got the grenade as a gift from a museum during his travels.
Because the explosive was not active, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — which oversees LaGuardia — did not make any arrests and no charges were filed. In the end, the man was allowed to board his flight — though agents did confiscate the grenade, which they said will be used for training exercises in the future.
FAA Outage
Seth Wenig/AP Planes sit on the tarmac at Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The incident comes just more than a month after a bomb scare prompted the temporary evacuation of Terminal B at the airport in Queens in addition to the suspension of several flights.
On Nov. 9, a suspicious duffel bag was spotted at TSA screening area for the terminal, where all JetBlue, American Airlines and United Airlines planes take off and land. The NYPD Bomb Squad was called in to check on the package, which was determined to not be an explosive. Normal operations resumed shortly thereafter.
