TSA's Best 'Catches' of 2011

Explosives, snakes, and a harmless science project
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2012 12:13 PM CST
TSA's Best 'Catches' of 2011
And what do we have here?   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Americans love griping about the TSA, and with good reason. The TSA, for instance, pocketed an estimated $376,480 of your loose change in 2010, notes the Huffington Post. But before your blood pressure shoots too high, consider this: TSA officers stopped some crazy and dangerous things from boarding flights this year. On its blog (yes, the TSA has a blog), the much-maligned agency relates the top 10 "good catches" of 2011. Among the notables:

  • A half-ounce of C4 explosives: a passenger flying out of Yuma said he just wanted to show it to his family

  • A .380 pistol: strapped to the ankle of a 76-year-old trying to depart from Detroit; he claims to have forgotten it was there
  • A pink smartphone: it was actually a stun gun, and it didn't make it through LAX
  • A college student's science project: his device, made out of a mints tin and resembling an IED, was harmless, but shut down Omaha's airport all the same
  • Snakes: seven, to be exact, in the pants of a man at the Miami airport
Click for the complete list, or click to read about more things about the TSA that annoy. (More Best of 2011 stories.)

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