A person pulled a reside turtle from his pants at an airport safety checkpoint in New Jersey after triggering an alarm, officers stated.
A “body scanner triggered an alarm in the” man’s groin space, based on officers, and a TSA officer doing a pat down then “determined that there was something concealed” there.
The TSA officer questioned the traveler, and that’s when the person “reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a live turtle that was wrapped in a small blue towel,” officers stated.
The roughly 5-inch-long turtle didn’t seem to have been harmed, per the discharge. The person recognized it as a red-eared slider turtle, officers stated.
A TSA official described the scenario as unprecedented.
“We have seen travelers try to conceal knives and other weapons on their person, in their shoes and in their luggage, however I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants,” stated Thomas Carter, TSA’s federal safety director for New Jersey, per the discharge.
Officers didn’t say why the person had the turtle.
Port Authority law enforcement officials questioned him and took the reptile, with plans to get in contact with animal management within the space and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, based on officers.
The person “missed his flight and was escorted out of the checkpoint by police,” officers stated.
East Stroudsburg is a couple of 70-mile drive northwest from Newark.