BOSTON — Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston Logan International Airport stopped a woman from sneaking four knives onto an airplane when they were detected hidden in her knee brace on June 12.
The woman, who arrived at the checkpoint in a wheelchair, placed her knee brace on the checkpoint conveyor belt. The TSA officer who was staffing the X-ray monitor observed the image and called for a closer look at the item because he thought that knife-like items appeared on the monitor.
When the TSA officers asked the woman what was inside the knee brace, she laughed. Upon closer inspection, TSA officers uncovered four table knives artfully concealed in the neoprene-style knee brace.
“This is a good example of what a fine job our TSA officers do,” said Robert Allison, TSA’s federal security director for Massachusetts. “The officer staffing the X-ray machine spotted something unusual and it turned out that he was spot-on. The TSA officer who pulled out the knives showed them to the woman and she laughed, but I can assure you that trying to artfully conceal any sort of weapon in an effort to get it onto an airplane is no laughing matter.”
The knives were confiscated and Massachusetts State Police and the airline were notified of the incident. The woman, a British citizen and resident of London, England, was denied boarding her flight to Paris.