Ice Packs Helped Prompt TSA Bulletin

66-year-old mom with bad back fields question about Osama
By Heather McPherson,  Newser User
Posted Jul 27, 2007 9:46 AM CDT
Ice Packs Helped Prompt TSA Bulletin
TSA workers screen passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Thursday, May 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)   (Associated Press)

This week's TSA bulletin warning of a possible attempt to penetrate security checkpoints with "peculiar items" was caused in part by an incident involving a 66-year-old woman and the ice packs she uses on her bad back. The clay-filled, tape-wrapped packages ignited hazmat suspicions, though their owner says she's been traveling with them for years, ABC News reports.

After security scanners flagged Sara Weiss' checked baggage, she was brought into an interrogation room and asked, "Do you know Osama bin Laden?" And although she was released with no charges—ice packs in tow—the incident nonetheless made its way into the TSA announcement. "I was astonished," says Weiss. (More terrorism stories.)

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