I'm a gramma in my 70's and was not allowed to bring a factory wrapped box of tube watercolors on board...each tube 1/4 oz.
Yep - nothing to see here. Move along....
Posted on 11/01/2007 10:20:41 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
Two Arrested At Atlanta Airport With Hidden Knives, Razor Blades
POSTED: 6:46 am EDT November 1, 2007 UPDATED: 12:01 pm EDT November 1, 2007
ATLANTA -- Authorities say they have ruled out terrorism in an incident in which two men tried to sneak knives and other weapons onto a flight from Atlanta to New York.
One of the men even made it through security and onto the Delta Air Lines flight. Both have been charged with state violations of carrying concealed weapons, according to an Atlanta police report.
Authorities surrounded 60-year-old Chhaganbhai Patel at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on October 25 after he was found with a number of knives including a martial arts-style knife.
Atlanta police Lt. Jim Corlino said the knife was a large Chinese-style fighting knife with blades that opened on both ends.
Authorities also found 20 small knives wrapped in tin foil. And upon searching Patel's bag three more times, they found razor blades hidden in the battery compartment of a toy car.
Shakarabhai Patel, 64, who was traveling with Chhaganbhai Patel had already made it through security and onto the flight, which was bound for New York and then to India. Officials did not immediately indicate the relationship between the two men.
The plane was brought back to the gate and police said they found a box cutter and $5,000 cash in the second man's bag.
They have been charged with weapons charges. Both men remain in jail while police investigate.
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ATLANTA (AP) — A man with a box cutter in his luggage got through airport security, and was discovered only after screeners stopped a companion who was carrying knives, authorities said. Terrorism was ruled out but both were arrested on state weapons charges.
Authorities said Chhaganbhai Patel, 60, was stopped at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Oct. 25 after he was found with a number of knives including a martial arts-style knife.
Shakarabhai Patel, 64, who was traveling with him, had already made it through security and onto the Delta Air Lines jet, which was bound for New York and then to India, authorities said. The plane was brought back to the gate and police said a box cutter and $5,000 cash were found in the second man's bag.
Both have been charged with state violations of carrying concealed weapons, according to an Atlanta police report.
FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said Thursday that federal agents interviewed the two men through an interpreter and determined the incident was not terrorism-related. No federal charges were brought. He declined to explain why the men had the knives.
Atlanta police Lt. Jim Corlino told Atlanta television station WAGA that the way the knives were packed "was an intentional concealment."
"The (martial arts) knife was a large, Chinese-style fighting knife," Corlino said. Authorities said they also found 20 small knives wrapped in tin foil and razor blades hidden in the battery compartment of a toy car. The police report said the man indicated he wrapped the knives to keep them from cutting his clothes.
Jon Allen, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the arrests illustrate the agency's practice of having multiple layers of security.
"One of those layers is professionally trained officers who through their questioning identified the travel companion," Allen said. "The travel companion was removed from the flight and rescreened and that's when that box cutter was identified."
Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said the airline cooperated fully with authorities.
It was not immediately clear if the men had lawyers; police did not return calls seeking more details.
Valid point...I am in no way arguing that these men were not terrorists, or could not have been terrorists. I was just pointing out that they might not have been related, because Patel is a common Indian surname -- a pretty insignificant argument, I realize.
I'm a gramma in my 70's and was not allowed to bring a factory wrapped box of tube watercolors on board...each tube 1/4 oz.
Yep - nothing to see here. Move along....
“...because the first ‘layer’ completely missed the box cutter the first time around!! SHEESH!”
Cut the security people some slack. Maybe they were so busy searching a possible terrorist 90 year granny at the time that he just slipped through the system
I can see it that way. But, on the other hand, if the operation gets blown, and the terrorists try to make a quick getaway, maybe having cash on hand is part of their strategy.
The 9/11 hijackers may have all had $5000 in their pockets. But we'll never know, eh?
The morons at TSA strike again! I couldn’t take back a bottle of friggin Bar B Q sauce after a recent trip to Houston, but knives and razor blades make in on fine. The lying government should just admit that the TSA is a TOTAL JOKE and that we are no safer now than we were on 9/10/01. The TSA is staffed by complete idiots who wouldn’t recognize a genuine threat if it carried a neon sign.
did you forget the s/ ?
Actually he made it through the last one too. The only reason he was caught was because he wasn't traveling alone.
“In another security line, I noticed a Middle Eastern TPA worker wearing a turban....)
OOPS...TSA worker...
Patel is the second most common surname in India. It'd be like having two men named Smith on the plane and assuming they were related.
well, just geeezeum. I wish someone had clued in the handlers at the Portland airport on my recent flight.
I'm a white haired ole white gramma in my 70's and caused a big stir with my carry-on.
As it went through the machine...it was stopped, peered at closely, then first one then the head honcho was called to look.
Everyone is now gawking.
Head honcho: "Whose bag is this!"
"Ah, Mine."
"Come with me!" (not even a please)
HH puts bag on table and demands:
"Open it!"
By now all eyes are on old gramma and I am wondering "What the heck do they think they see?"
HH rifles through my bag and comes up with the dangerous articles. (Now keep in mind that this is the same week, last July, that you are once again allowed to carry cigarette lighters on board...even tho' you can't smoke on board)
HH - gruffly, in his most puffed up authoritative manner: "You can't take these on board!"
"These" were two factory wrapped boxes of tube watercolors 1/4 oz.
My mind not connecting to the reasoning, I blurted out: " But I have too, they're for my grandkids."
HH, not impressed; "You CANNOT take these on board!"
With visions of being cuffed and hauled off to a back room, I said:"But I can't arrive with presents for all but two grandkids!"
HH repeats his demand.
I answer: Well, I can't leave them here!.
HH then backs down a bit and says: "Then you'll have to go back downstairs and put the bag through there - you can't take it on board..."
Fortunately, I was at the airport early enough to leave security, go down and stand in line to check the bag through, go back up and go thru' security again and not miss my flight.
So I guess the Portland honchos didn't get the memo re age etc...
“Ah yes, well, one must scream “allah akbar” and “death to America, death to the infidels”,...”
Not sure if that qualifies.
That just removes them from a flight and gives them the right to sue the airlines or suspicious passengers who had them removed.
It is only “terrorism related” if AQ claims responsibility, maybe.
The name is NOT moslem. It is generic Hindu and is possibly Moslem about as much as McGonigle is possibly Moslem.
I have actually heard that expressed.
Patels are not necessarily related. It is a name the English assigned to inkeepers throughout the subcontinent. Patel means “innkeeper.”
just an isolated incident
‘Two Arrested At Atlanta Airport With Hidden Knives, Razor Blades ‘
Headline of the article. Note the key word; ATLANTA
You wrote;
‘Patel is the second most common surname in India. It’d be like having two men named Smith on the plane and assuming they were related.’
This becomes very very important on the next thread discussing boarding and security procedures in INDIA.
That said, thanks, I’ll keep that one in my hip pocket for the time when India Airways security procedures are brought up.
Til then....(chuckle)
Investigators question them, and when the terrorist replies that "no, I am not a terrorist you infidel!", then they are deemed Not Terrrorists. That's how it works. NEXT!
Last week, while traveling from Beijing to Xian, China, and before going through airport security, there was a metal container with a slot, resembling a small mailbox. On it was a message printed in Chinese and English. It said, “Box for Abandoned Knife.”
Why, where does everybody else store their razor blades?
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