Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — At a secure Florida airport checkpoint this week, the Transportation Security Administration found a raw chicken stuffed with a gun, and the agency described the scene as a “personal bird.”
The passenger was heading to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, according to Sari Kochitz, a TSA spokesman for the Gulf region.
Nestor Iglesias, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, which is overseeing the investigation at the US Department of Homeland Security, said he could not provide any additional details because it was an “ongoing criminal case and has been accepted for trial.”
TSA checkpoints set a record number of handguns at Florida airports in 2022. Passengers have carried more than 700 handguns with them to the state’s airport checkpoints so far this year, more than any previous year, according to an TSA press release.
Record numbers were set at 12 Florida airports, including those in Orlando (129 firearms), Fort Lauderdale (120 firearms) and Tampa (102 firearms) to begin with.
The TSA noted that nearly all of the firearms discovered at the checkpoints were in a firing position, and most contained ammunition.
“Accidental pulling of the trigger could cause tragedy,” TSA Kochitz said in a statement. He continued, “Every passenger has the responsibility to know the location of his gun before entering the security barrier.”
For many passengers, bringing weapons to airports led to arrests and court notices.
The TSA said civil fines could be as high as $13,910, even if the passenger was not apprehended.
Firearms must be packed in checked baggage according to the TSA’s rules for how to pack weapons and ammunition, on its website.
