A Florida man’s half-cocked plan to smuggle a gun onto a plane by stuffing it into a chicken didn’t work out as he had hoped.
The TSA at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida found the gun in the man’s carry-on luggage. He had wrapped it in what seemed to be thin paper packaging before stuffing it inside the bird.
A post on the TSA Instagram account showed photos of the chicken as it was examined by airport security. The video clip included footage of the gun being extracted from the bird and subsequently unwrapped.
The post was captioned by pun-laden text showing the TSA had a sense of humor about the ordeal.
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The gun was discovered at around 6 AM on September 27 at Terminal 4 of the airport. The man was flying internationally, so officers with Customers Border Protection were brought in.
Currently, there are no other details about the suspect.
Passengers can bring unloaded firearms onto planes, but they must be locked in a hard-sided case and declared at the ticket counter. You can also bring food with you in your carry-on luggage.
It is unclear whether the man was arrested. Passengers caught with “undeclared and/or improperly packaged” firearms in their luggage can lose their PreCheck status and may be fined up to $1390. The ammo-laden chicken was just one of the many odd discoveries the TSA has found in customers’ luggage. Other items include brass knuckles, a meat cleaver, and a grenade-type item.