TSA agent spots gun parts hidden in toy animals

Updated 6:28 PM ET

(CBS News) A Transportation Security Administration officer discovered something more than just three stuffed animals inside a carry-on bag going through the conveyor belt of a Rhode Island airport X-ray checkpoint Monday.

Hidden inside each of the three toy animals were ammunition parts that when put together become a handgun, said the TSA.

A TSA official at the T.F. Green International Airport in Providence noticed the concealed parts in the bag belonging to a 4-year-old who was with his father en route to Detroit.

According to the TSA, its officers alerted the airport's police, which found the main frame of a .40 caliber firearm in one animal, a firing pin and a magazine carrying two .40 caliber rounds in another animal, and a slide concealed in the third animal.

The items were seized and the man and child were allowed to go on their flight to Detroit.

"This incident is currently being investigated by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation Police, FBI and the RI State Police," said Leo Messier, Rhode Island Airport Corporation police chief, in a statement.

"It appears to be the result of a domestic dispute. It was jointly investigated by the law enforcement agencies with the TSA, who determined that there was no threat at any time to air safety.

"The father and son were subsequently released and allowed to travel to their destination."

An investigation is continuing, said the TSA, which added the incident did not affect airport operations.

The agency said that the incident is an example of why its officers inspect everything closely and that the process is efficient even with the screening modification for kids 12 and under.

One of the stuffed animals containing a gun part hidden and then later discovered by a TSA agent at a Providence, R.I. airport, May 7, 2012.

/ TSA

[Archie1954]

It is well worth while keeping tabs on this matter to see what transpires if it ever gets to court. It just seems a little too coincidental that this occurs after all the criticism the TSA has been subject to for patting down little children. I don't doubt for one second that it is a false flag to deter further criticism.

[tmittelstaed]

This is a nasty vindictive ex wife trying to get the ex husband jailed. I'm glad the TSA believed the ex husband. I'm sure the family court will take a dim view of this incident. She may lose what visitation she has.

[momwifenana]

How many parents pack 3 large stuffed animals in a carry-on bag? It is hard enough getting a 4 year old's clothes and shoes in the bag much less 3 stuffed toys. In order for law enforcement to let him go they would have had to have a reasonable assumption thatthe child's mother was involved. Perhaps the father picked up the child and the mother just handed him the bag and he assumed she packed clothing for his trip. It is not the first time a father is clueless and a mother is spiteful. Let's not make actual assumptions. They will not drop the case until it is resolved. Someone is in trouble and they know exactly where to find the parties involved.

[fisher1949]

This story sounds fishy. They catch a crude attempt to conceal a gun, confiscate it and let the father and child board the plane anyway? The man who carried a gun into security in BWI yesterday was arrested and jailed. This sounds like a plant story to me.

Despite the billions of dollars wasted on full body scanners, their groping searches of children and strip searches of elderly women, they find this using the x-ray belt that was in use prior to 15 years ago.

Nearly every item that TSA finds is found on the x-ray belt, not by the invasive searches or dangerous x-ray body scanners.

They also acknowledge that their explosive trace detection is so flawed that it reports a false positive despite a complete lack of explosive material being present.

There have been 70 reported security breaches in the last 14 months. After sixty billion dollars TSA can't cite one success, fail 70% of security tests and allow 60% of the freight in the hold go unchecked.

Add to that the 62 TSA screeners arrested in 2011 for serious crime, including rape and murder and five more in 2012. Last year, eleven TSA screeners were charged with sex crimes involving children. TSA can't prevent crime within their ranks, but we're supposed to trust them with airport security.

This cost of this agency is out of control and this is more evidence that none of these newer methods are productive and that the agency is grossly wasteful. Pistole has failed to contain the rampant misconduct and mismanagement within the agency and both need to be replaced with something that works.

[bluesky4now]

Yeah, and you can re-read that BS to yourself when the enemy succeeds in blowing up an airliner because we decided to relax our controls. So sorry that we've had our "private space" violated, kiddies and grammas included. Gosh, what an inconvenience. Everybody's got skin in the game. Drive if you don't like it - or run for Congress if you want to change it!

[Nintendo_8_bit]

You can't say that TSA has not had one success when you're reading an obviously positive story that they caught something. I think allot of people assume that TSA is solely responsible for catching terrorist. The truth is that they are just one important layer of a large security network. Criticism is important for any system to improve, but when you criticize success it shows that you need to improve your attitude

[uisignorant]

Ammunition parts???
Did he pack a reloader?

[AZH1]

RE: "We believe this was related to an ongoing domestic dispute." If this is the case seems like one pissed off EX.

[av8r81]

Here in Cincinnati, our airport is the busiest between 7-11AM. This is when Delta needs TSA to increase staff accordingly. However, they refuse. They would rather keep the same amount of agents on duty in the checkpoints throughout the entire day....making it burdensome and stressful for all parties during the busy hours, all the while having many extra agents with nothing to do the rest of the day. <----- THIS EPITOMIZES GOVERNMENT; inefficient, costly, stubbornly ignorant, and counterproductive (given they are creating an environment during the peak hours where it is easier to smuggle contraband through the overcrowded checkpoints.) I'm with the Paul's....END THE TSA.

[uisignorant]

It went through the freaking x-ray, the 4 yo did not have it.
I would even be willing to bet the TSA put it there.

[fisher1949]

Absolutely. Classic false flag plant story.

[David Hoffman100]

I cannot tell from the picture the manufacturer of the firearm. That should have been part of the story. The story is strange. If I wanted to move a gun from Rhode Island to Michigan, I would have shipped it by ground truck. There is too much of a risk getting random x-ray or search by air freight security. The other odd thing is having 2 rounds of ammunition. You can buy ammunition in Michigan. Why bother shipping any at all? One of the things that the US State Department warns you about is accepting gifts to carry back to the USA that someone puts into your luggage at the last minute. It can be a trick to smuggle items using a citizen of the USA who might be subject to a lower level of scrutiny from US Customs. I have a feeling someone within the USA gave these stuffed animals to the child at the last minute before the child departed for the airport or maybe at the airport outside the secure area. It may be a test to see if the animals would be ignored. The father may have told law enforcement who gave the toys to the child and in their judgement the real focus should be on catching the gift giver. Someone may have wanted the father to be arrested to facilitate other activities. He might be seen as a problem to be delayed by an arrest so he does not arrive in Michigan too early to interfere in the other activities.

[enlightenu]

They were allowed to go on their flight? Obviously this was a test. The last line confirms this was timed to save face over the pat down of a frightened 2 year old last week.

[DoJo724]

TSA doesn't have the power to arrest or detain. Local law enforcement made the decision to let them go, not anyone from any federal agency. It doesn't matter if they got on their flight anyway, because the FBI, who would be handling the official interrogation, would meet them at the gate when the get to their destination. Other than being completely wrong in every possible way, that was a pretty good analysis.