TSA Finds Explosive

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Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, man in custody

An explosive device was found in a checked piece of luggage at Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley International Airport on Monday, according to a criminal complaint.

The passenger, Mark Muffley of Lansford, Pennsylvania, is now in FBI custody, officials said.

Muffley, 40, was set to take an Allegiant flight from eastern Pennsylvania to Florida's Orlando Sanford International Airport....​

https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-stopped-airport-explosive-concealed-checked-luggage/story?id=97562616
 
Dude kind of looks Iike flight chops
 
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It's a sad day when an innocent criminal like this can't take his homemade bomb with him on vacation.
 
There must be more to this story. Maybe they pulled the bag because they thought it had a too big can of hair spray in it, and then found out it was really butane?

Or maybe the TSA guy was retired military or law enforcement, down on his luck, like Denzel Washington working at Home Depot in the Equalizer?

Or...perhaps they didn't find anything really bad, but rather confused some sort of BBQ rub for powder. Maybe the guy was just looking to make some brisket.
 
Wow, there's a truly remarkable amount of information lacking in that story. Was any research done?
They found the bomb. Paged him. He left the airport. He was arrested at home. Ummm, interesting timeline.
 
“based on a preliminary assessment, the device contained flammable, explosive components but was not operational and not constructed to go off in flight.”

“FBI and local law enforcement bomb technicians who responded to the scene determined that the item "was indeed a live explosive device," TSA said.”

Gotta love the consistency.
 
donjohnston said:
“based on a preliminary assessment, the device contained flammable, explosive components but was not operational and not constructed to go off in flight.”

“FBI and local law enforcement bomb technicians who responded to the scene determined that the item "was indeed a live explosive device," TSA said.”

Gotta love the consistency.
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It's not uncommon for different federal agencies to come to conflicting conclusions. :dunno:
 
How many terrorist attacks since 9/11..??

Somebody must be doing something right.
 
Well, it could be the TSA. Or it could be that the last time somebody did that it led to a 20 year war, and for the leader a special visit by a SEAL team and an unanimated swim. In addition, because of the events of 9/11, the passengers aren't going to let a group take over the plane. And for anyone planning it, there's nowhere to hide...only one country where we couldn't reach them, and China has no reason to harbor that kind of fugitive. It's not viable for either the leaders or flunkies to carry our.

But sure, it's possible that someone is more afraid of TSA than they are of 11 aircraft carriers that patrol the earth at will.

And yeah, Yay, they found something! Twenty years and 7+ billion dollars a year later. To put it in perspective, we took over the entire country of Panama for less than $200 million.
 
Albany Tom said:
Well, it could be the TSA. Or it could be that the last time somebody did that it led to a 20 year war, and for the leader a special visit by a SEAL team and an unanimated swim. In addition, because of the events of 9/11, the passengers aren't going to let a group take over the plane. And for anyone planning it, there's nowhere to hide...only one country where we couldn't reach them, and China has no reason to harbor that kind of fugitive. It's not viable for either the leaders or flunkies to carry our.

But sure, it's possible that someone is more afraid of TSA than they are of 11 aircraft carriers that patrol the earth at will.

And yeah, Yay, they found something! Twenty years and 7+ billion dollars a year later. To put it in perspective, we took over the entire country of Panama for less than $200 million.
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I was referring to all the various layers that go into security, TSA included.
And to be clear, the TSA includes a lot more than the folks at airport security.
 
Kritchlow said:
Is it really that hard?
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Off the top of my head, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber are the most obvious ones that TSA should have caught but didn't. Then there's all the benign ones TSA missed but could have been really bad, like the soldier who got caught inadvertently carrying explosives on his return trip. Not to mention the fact that they miss twice as many weapons as they catch: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...ons-but-thats-an-improvement/?sh=51c0179a2a38

If TSA screenings have prevented terrorism, it's likely only because of deterrence and luck.
 
Lindberg said:
Off the top of my head, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber are the most obvious ones that TSA should have caught but didn't. Then there's all the benign ones TSA missed but could have been really bad, like the soldier who got caught inadvertently carrying explosives on his return trip. Not to mention the fact that they miss twice as many weapons as they catch: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...ons-but-thats-an-improvement/?sh=51c0179a2a38

If TSA screenings have prevented terrorism, it's likely only because of deterrence and luck.
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Well I certainly agree with the deterrence part. Possibly the luck part.
That said, ALL of the layers of security, not just the front line jamokes.

There is more to air security than the dude felling your crotch.

ETA: The way I read the article, and I could be wrong, the front line TSA agent was tipped by another source… layers of security.
 
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Kritchlow said:
I was referring to all the various layers that go into security, TSA included.
And to be clear, the TSA includes a lot more than the folks at airport security.
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There have been a few airports that I have flown into which now charge me a "Security" or "TSA" fee which didn't before 9/11.

And getting onto the ramp of some transient airports is PITA now. I have to have an escort out to my plane so I can leave.
 
Kritchlow said:
Well I certainly agree with the deterrence part. Possibly the luck part.
That said, ALL of the layers of security, not just the front line jamokes.

There is more to air security than the dude felling your crotch.

ETA: The way I read the article, and I could be wrong, the front line TSA agent was tipped by another source… layers of security.
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Ouch. The visual of my crotch being felled made me cringe. I could feel it…

 
Lindberg said:
Off the top of my head, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber are the most obvious ones that TSA should have caught but didn't. Then there's all the benign ones TSA missed but could have been really bad, like the soldier who got caught inadvertently carrying explosives on his return trip. Not to mention the fact that they miss twice as many weapons as they catch: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...ons-but-thats-an-improvement/?sh=51c0179a2a38

If TSA screenings have prevented terrorism, it's likely only because of deterrence and luck.
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I’m just glad that there were no rectal bombers.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I’m just glad that there were no rectal bombers.
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I dunno.. Based on the flight I had to Singapore last year, the bathroom seemed like there was some low-level carpet bombing going on in there.
 
The owner of the suitcase ran when the airport paged him. He was of course apprehended at home.
 
Kritchlow said:
Well I certainly agree with the deterrence part. Possibly the luck part.
That said, ALL of the layers of security, not just the front line jamokes.

There is more to air security than the dude felling your crotch.

ETA: The way I read the article, and I could be wrong, the front line TSA agent was tipped by another source… layers of security.
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Well ALL the layers of security MISS 70-95% of the weapons carried onto airliners.
 
So he checked the bag and the TSA sensor alerted on explosive, and they inspect the bag and find what appears to be explosives... So they page the owner of the bag to come to security.

Seems to me it would have made more sense to detain him at the gate with his checked bag instead of alerting him, and allowing time to elapse before detaining him away from the airport. I don't know. I wasn't there...
 
Kritchlow said:
How many terrorist attacks since 9/11..??

Somebody must be doing something right.
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I don't think I agree. There is a TON of vulnerable infrastructure in this country. They can't stop the attacks on electrical substations pretty much at all at this point, but thankfully it's not like it's happening all over the place. Based on things I've seen, I think the vulnerabilities in this country are so wide that it's shocking we haven't yet face more serious concerns and inconveniences, especially given the porous southern border.

I think the true number of people trying to harm is is actually fairly small and the overwhelming amount of "guns stopped at checkpoints" for instance, are for the most part American citizens being deprived of their Constitutional rights. Mind you, I think an airline has a right to restrict carriage and manner of conveyance of weapons on their private property, and should employ their own private security, but the Federal Government shouldn't be the ones breaking the Bill of Rights.
 
FPK1 said:
…
Seems to me it would have made more sense to detain him at the gate with his checked bag instead of alerting him, and allowing time to elapse before detaining him away from the airport. I don't know. I wasn't there...
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Assumes passenger was planning to actual go thru the checkpoint.
 
Reports I've seen indicate the device was not active. That is, it was not intended to explode during flight. I do not know if that was accurate.

What could be the use of two GFI outlets taped together?
 
steingar said:
The owner of the suitcase ran when the airport paged him. He was of course apprehended at home.
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Boy that's what I would do is page the person to come to security...:rolleyes: And first place I would go after being paged is "home"...:lol:
 
Lindberg said:
Off the top of my head, the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber are the most obvious ones that TSA should have caught but didn't.
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The TSA didn't get a chance to catch either of them.

Richard Reid boarded his flight in Paris in December of 2021 when the TSA had been in existence less than six weeks. Reid's screening took place in Paris by French authorities including the French National Police. They identified him as a person of interest and conducted extended interviews which resulted in him missing his planned flight. The delay, however, was key in preventing the plan from succeeding as the rainy weather, and additional time being exposed to his perspiration, caused the fuse to be too damp to ignite by the time he was in the position to try.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded his flight in Amsterdam in December of 2009 after having originated in Ghana. Again, the screening was conducted by Dutch and Ghana authorities, not the TSA.

In both instances, the would-be bombers were taking unusual measures to conceal their IEDs from the detection technology that was in use at the time. This led to IEDs which were not as robust as they may have liked and was a big part in the failure of both attempts.
 
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I was going through O'Hare back in January and just as I'm about to walk up to the ID check, the blue shirts started shouting for everyone to stop moving. We all stood around for ~5 minutes and if anyone said a word or took a step, the boss lady would lose her mind on them. After they finally started things moving again, I saw a bunch of them walking through the terminal and going into/out of bathrooms. Overheard someone say that they found something suspicious in a bag image and looked at video to tie the bag to a person, so they were looking for that person. My question was - how the heck did she get her bag in the first place if there was something suspicious!? Security at its finest right there...
 
Larry in TN said:
The TSA didn't get a chance to catch either of them.

Richard Reid boarded his flight in Paris in December of 2021 when the TSA had been in existence less than six weeks. Reid's screening took place in Paris by French authorities including the French National Police. They identified him as a person of interest and conducted extended interviews which resulted in him missing his planned flight. The delay, however, was key in preventing the plan from succeeding as the rainy weather, and additional time being exposed to his perspiration, caused the fuse to be too damp to ignite by the time he was in the position to try.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded his flight in Amsterdam in December of 2009 after having originated in Ghana. Again, the screening was conducted by Dutch and Ghana authorities, not the TSA.

In both instances, the would-be bombers were taking unusual measures to conceal their IEDs from the detection technology that was in use at the time. This led to IEDs which were not as robust as they may have liked and was a big part in the failure of both attempts.
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So TSA isn't responsible for security of flights to the US from other countries and doesn't coordinate with those security agencies on the ground?
 
Lindberg said:
So TSA isn't responsible for security of flights to the US from other countries and doesn't coordinate with those security agencies on the ground?
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No. That's why arriving passengers have to clear TSA screening upon arrival at their US point of entry to gain re-entry into the departures area to reach their connecting flight.

There are some foreign cities with TSA and CBP pre-clearance facilities such as the larger Canadian airports, Aruba, and, I think, some UK airports, among others. Those passengers arrive in the US pre-cleared and exit the airplane as a domestic arrival.
 
I've been hassled before about my small backpacking tent in my carry-on bag, apparently the collapsed tent poles are far too dangerous for a safe flight. Not even stakes, which were not present. Something also apparently prompted them to swab for explosives, for <insert reason here>.

I've had my Gerber multitool confiscated by TSA while leaving Kuwait, in uniform, with a hundred or so other soldiers, some of whom were armed.

I've also been pulled aside three times on one trip because of a spring in my cell phone belt clip.

That said, more than once I've gotten to my destination and found knives and lighters in my backpack, which I didn't even intentionally pack, much less put any effort into hiding, but had gone completely undetected by multiple TSA checkpoints
 
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