The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stopped a passenger from taking a replica pipe bomb on an airplane earlier this week after the person packed the “realistic” looking replica in their carry-on bag at the Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus on June 8.
As the carry-on bag went through the X-ray machine, suspicions were immediately raised and a TSA explosives specialist had to be called in to carefully examine the device. Thankfully, it was quickly established that the replica did not represent an actual threat.
The passenger explained that the replica pipe bomb was a training aid, but even after it was determined that there was no ill intent, it had to be voluntarily abandoned before the passenger was allowed to catch their flight.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, replica explosives are strictly prohibited from both carry-on and checked baggage.
You’d normally think these types of incidents are rare, but just days earlier, on June 3, TSA agents Dayton International Airport in Ohio, found a replica anti-tank mine in another passenger’s carry-on luggage. Again, the passenger explained that the item was to be used as a training aid.
In both of these cases, the TSA didn’t press charges, but trying to bring replica explosives through the airport security checkpoint can land passengers with a hefty fine and even a criminal conviction.
Civil penalties for bringing a realistic replica of explosives through the TSA checkpoint start at $850 and can go up to $4,250. A criminal referral can also take place.
In recent years, the TSA has hiked the cost of some civil penalties, inparticular, for brinings firearms through the checkpoint. In a bid to stop the rise in passengers bringing firearms through the checkpoint, the starting fine for an unloaded weapon has risen to $1,500, although repeat offenders could be hit with a fine of up to $6,130.
Loaded firearms are, unsurprisingly, taken even more seriously with fines ranging from $3,000 to $12,210 for first time offenders, and repeat offenders facing fine of as much as $17,062.
