'Really scary': BWI travelers react after TSA halted explosive device at Pennsylvania airport
BALTIMORE - The Transportation Security Administration said its officers prevented an explosive device from being loaded onto a plane in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Officials arrested 40-year-old Mark Muffley for allegedly possessing an explosive at the Lehigh Valley International Airport.
According to an affidavit, Muffley was seen entering the airport wheeling the luggage after being dropped off at the airport on Monday at approximately 10:45 a.m.
According the affidavit for the arrest warrant, before the luggage was loaded on a plane bound for Orlando, an alarm alerted TSA to "suspicious items."
When TSA inspected the luggage, they located "a circular compound, approximately three inches in diameter, wrapped in a wax-like paper and clear plastic wrap hidden in the lining of the baggage, among other items."
The documents said incendiary powder, fuses, a lighter, wireless drill, cordless batteries, among other items were also present.
Officials described a dangerous set of items that were "susceptible to ignite from heat and friction and posed a significant risk to the aircraft and passengers," according to the court document.
"Any time an explosive gets on an aircraft, if that were to happen and it was detonated in the air, it could be catastrophic," said Keith Jeffries, who once worked with the TSA as a Federal Security Director.
Officials say they paged Muffley and asked him to report to the security desk after finding his name on the luggage tag.
They say security cameras captured him leaving the airport just moments later.
"Well I tell you what, it's good that they were able to catch him and nothing serious happened," said Matt Ritter, a traveler at BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport. "That's what's really scary."
The FBI is leading the investigation.
The arrest warrant said Muffley is in violation of "possessing, or attempting to place, or attempting to have placed, an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft..."
He was scheduled for a court appearance in Pennsylvania on Thursday.
In a statement, TSA Federal Security Director Karen Keys-Turner said, "Transportation Security Officers are highly trained and highly skilled professionals at the front line of aviation security who are focused on their mission and catches such as this illustrate the point."
