Caught on the fly: Here are the TSA’s top 10 odd finds in 2022

The plan to hide a gun inside of a raw chicken was half-baked. The efforts to stuff soiled money inside a pair of crutches stunk, and it was a hair-brained idea to try to smuggle drugs inside a hair scrunchy.

2022 was a year of odd finds and catches at airport security points, where agents of the Transportation Security Administration screen hundreds of thousands of passengers daily. The TSA recently released its list of top 10 catches at nation’s airports, from inert grenades to peanut butter-smeared handguns.

Passengers are not allowed to bring weapons of any kind, including replicas, into the cabin of a commercial plane. TSA agents are primarily on the lookout for any threats to the safety of the plane but will report to local authorities any illegal drugs or other suspicious contraband they come upon.

These TSA discoveries go way beyond finding a tube of toothpaste in a carry-on bag that exceeds the maximum limit of 3.4 ounces. LAX, of course, made the following list:

10. Soiled money in crutches

In the El Paso International Airport, TSA agents confiscated a pair of crutches stuffed with soiled money. It’s not clear when the discovery was made, however.

“It’s hard to imagine someone thinking this idea didn’t stink,” a narrator says in a TSA video announcing the top 10 finds.

9. Inert grenade

On July 29, TSA screeners found a hand grenade inside a carry-on bag, prompting them to call the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad. The grenade was found to be inert and, according to its owner, was bought at an air show.

8. Cattle prods

Officers found three cattle prods stuffed inside a passenger’s carry-on guitar case in Sept. 14 at Dulles International Airport. A TSA spokesperson at the time noted that, although the cattle prods were not allowed in the carry-on for obvious reasons, the passenger was allowed to repack them into a checked bag.

7. Handgun inside a PlayStation

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, TSA agents spotted on Dec. 14 a handgun that was hidden inside a PlayStation console.

The console was flagged when the officer said she didn’t see a mass of computer parts in the game system when it was X-rayed, the agency said in a statement at the time.

“A gun looked to be artfully concealed,” Officer Theodosia White, who spotted the gun, said.

6. Drug scrunchies

In Boise Airport, officers discovered drugs hidden inside hair scrunchies. When the drugs were found was not immediately known.

5. Knife in laptop

At Richmond International Airport, a passenger at a checkpoint was flagged when TSA officers detected a double-bladed knife hidden inside the casing of a laptop on Nov. 15.

An officer spotted the knife when it was X-rayed, but was unable to find it in the carry-on bag, according to the agency. It wasn’t until each item was checked and run through the X-ray machine again that officers were able to determine it had been hidden inside the laptop.

4. Gun in a sling

A man going through security at Frederick Douglas Greater Rochester International Airport told officers he had forgotten that he had stuffed a loaded 9mm handgun inside a medical sling he was using, according to a spokesperson at the time. The man was detained by local law enforcement.

3. Peanut butter handgun

In the midst of the busy holiday travel season, a TSA officer decided to inspect two jars of peanut butter from a passenger at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Dec. 22. Inside the jars filled with sticky peanut butter, officers found the parts of a disassembled handgun.

The parts were wrapped in plastic, TSA officials said, included a magazine loaded with ammo. TSA notes firearms can be transported, as long as they have the proper permit and the gun is properly packaged. That includes making sure the gun is unloaded — and not in peanut butter jars — and transported in the belly of the plane.

2. Gun inside a raw chicken

On Nov. 7, TSA agents had to do a deeper inspection of a raw whole chicken being transported at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Stuffed inside, they found a wrapped handgun.

“This idea wasn’t even half-baked; it was raw,” TSA officials said in an Instagram post at the time.

1. Fentanyl drugs inside candy boxes and bags

LAX topped the list with this find on Oct. 19, when TSA officers called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s narcotics bureau after they discovered about 12,000 fentanyl pills hidden inside candy boxes and bags.

The suspect tried to go through TSA screening with the drugs disguised as candy and snacks, according to the Sheriff’s Department. When the pills were spotted, the suspect fled the area before he could be detained but was later identified.