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Woman’s hidden knife among items confiscated by TSA

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On April 26, a female passenger headed for Idaho on an American Airlines flight was stopped at a security checkpoint after TSA officers discovered a knife with a 4-inch blade hidden inside a hair brush. (TSA photo)

Another tourist leaving Hawaii tried to smuggle a knife in a hair brush in her carry-on luggage at Maui Airport, the Transportation Security Administration reported.

The incident occurred April 26 when a female passenger headed for Idaho on an American Airlines flight was stopped at a security checkpoint after TSA officers discovered a knife with a 4-inch blade hidden inside a hair brush. 

The passenger was cleared to fly by law enforcement officers, but the knife was confiscated by TSA.

The confiscated knife found on Maui was mentioned among confiscated items in a TSA report for the week ending May 3. The same report said 21 of 25 firearms confiscated were loaded. One passenger tried to smuggle .45 caliber handgun and four magazines in a cassette tape deck on the mainland.

This was the third incident this year where passengers have gotten knives confiscated after they were found by TSA officials at island airport security checkpoints.

On April 11 at Lihue Airport an 83-year-old United Airlines passenger hid his 3 1⁄2-inch pocketknife in an empty toothbrush container because he was afraid it would be confiscated.

The passenger told TSA officers he had hoped to "hide" the knife from the TSA because he didn’t want to lose it. TSA workers operating X-ray equipment identified the knife and requested a physical inspection of the passenger’s bag with the toothbrush container.

The passenger was allowed to continue of his trip, but he lost the pocket knife.

In January, another airline passenger flying to Hilo tried to smuggle three knives in a thermos past security at Honolulu Airport.

The man was stopped Jan. 20 trying to board a Hawaiian Airlines flight. At the initial checkpoint, the passenger was permitted to leave the checkpoint area with the knives to put them into his checked baggage. Instead, the man attempted to sneak them through in the thermos, the TSA reported.

The knives were confiscated and the passenger was allowed to book a later flight to Hilo.

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