NEW YORK — It was a loaded diaper, but not like you would think.
Security officers found 17 bullets concealed inside a disposable baby diaper Wednesday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the Transportation Security Administration said.
Officers pulled the otherwise clean diaper from a passenger's carry-on bag after it triggered an alarm in an X-ray machine at an airport security checkpoint, the TSA said.
According to the agency, the passenger initially claimed he didn't know how the bullet-filled diaper ended up in his bag. Later he suggested his girlfriend put it there, the agency said.
The TSA identified the passenger as a man from Arkansas who was ticketed for a flight to Chicago’s Midway Airport, but did not disclose his name. Port Authority police cited him for unlawful possession of the 9mm ammunition.
Messages seeking details were left with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, and the Queens district attorney's office.
The diaper disguiser is just the latest LaGuardia passenger to be flagged for packing bullets — and sometimes heat. It's a problem that has cropped up at airports across the U.S.
Last month, TSA officers found a .45-caliber pistol and a magazine loaded with six bullets concealed in a pair of Nike sneakers in a checked bag at LaGuardia. Firearms are allowed to be transported as checked luggage, but only in a locked, hard-sided container — not shoes.
In January 2021, officers at a security checkpoint intercepted 13 bullets hidden in a Mentos chewing gum container inside a carry-on bag. The bullets were mixed in with pieces of gum, the TSA said. The passenger, who was charged with unlawful possession of ammunition, claimed the bag belonged to his son, the agency said.
In April, officers pulled a loaded .22-caliber pistol and two boxes of ammunition — more than 100 bullets total — from a carry-on bag. That passenger claimed he had been at a shooting range and forgot to remove the gun and bullets before heading to the airport, the TSA said. He was still arrested.