Seattle TSA Officers Pull Claw-Like Bladed Object From Carry-On Bag

TSA officers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport found a three-bladed, claw-like object in a passenger's carry-on bag, Fox News reports. The agency described the find in a report on its website and in an Instagram post.

Snapshot

Fox News recounts how TSA officers at the Seattle airport spotted a three-bladed, claw-like object on an X-ray screen, confirmed it in a bag search and stopped it at the checkpoint, with two officers calling it one of the oddest things they had seen on the job. The report groups it with other unusual recent catches, including a spent smoke grenade hidden in an aerosol can and a knife built into a bat-shaped flashlight.

Key points

• The find: An officer reviewing X-ray images spotted three blades with claw-like features, which officials likened to a mix of Wolverine's claws and Freddy Krueger's blades.
• The search: A property search officer checked the bag and confirmed the dangerous item. Asked whether anything sharp was inside, the passenger said he was not sure, then removed the object himself.
• Official reaction: Robert Spinden, Seattle TSA's federal security director, credited the officers with keeping a prohibited item from getting past the checkpoint.
• Other recent finds: Officers at Watertown International Airport in upstate New York found a spent smoke grenade hidden in an aerosol container, and officers in Tampa found a 4-inch double-edged knife built into a flashlight shaped like a baseball bat.

Quick take

Fox News presents the Seattle find as one of several odd items TSA has flagged lately. A supervisory officer said it was among the most unusual things she had come across in seven years with the agency, and the officer who first saw it on the screen said he had never seen anything like it in his two years on the job.

Read the full story at Fox News.