Passengers Pass Security Checks And Possibly Bring Weapons On Plane, Airport Officers Undergo Investigation

Illustration of a security check area at an airport. (Wikimedia Commons/Kitt Hodsden)

JAKARTA - The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has started an investigation after an official said a weapon may have been lost during security checks at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

A government official familiar with the incident told CNN a passenger at the Atlanta airport may have boarded the plane with a bag with a gun.

Carry-on checks detected items on Tuesday last week that may have been firearms, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The bag does not sound an alarm when it is run a second time through the screening device, and passengers are allowed to leave the checkpoint with the bag.

TSA has not identified the item for sure and does not know the identity of the passenger.

"It's one in a million," the official said, quoted by CNN June 13.

What happened at the airport? The TSA said in a statement "there are unconfirmed reports of a firearm missing at TSA South checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport."

"As a prudent security measure, TSA is scanning the terminal for passengers with the relevant carry-on luggage," the statement said.

The official said the TSA discovered the problem later during a routine review of the filtering technology's image. By the time they saw him, the passenger was probably on a flight, the official said.

While the investigation is ongoing, the official said, initial indications were that the bag was removed after triggering the alarm, but not properly moved for a more detailed in-person inspection.

TSA spokesman Carter Langston told CNN it was investigating the incident.

The TSA said in a statement that officers found weapons at an alarming rate at checkpoints. Last year broke records for firearms caught at checkpoints, despite fewer people traveling due to the pandemic.

"I think more people are carrying guns, generally across the country, and then whatever happens across the country, we see reflected in our checkpoints," TSA Administrator David Pekoske told CNN in an interview at the time.

To note, the punishment for those found carrying weapons at the airport security checkpoints ranges up to around US$13,000 or around Rp. 191,847,500.