Florida TSA searched a traveler’s chicken at the airport. They found a gun inside.
The Transportation Security Administration says a traveler tried to sneak a handgun onto a flight – inside a chicken.
Agents seized the gun at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida on Sept. 27, TSA spokesperson Sari Koshetz said. The traveler was headed to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, the TSA said. TSA did not specify the gun’s model.
The agency delivered news of the bizarre discovery on social media in a pun-filled Instagram post this week.
“We hate to beak it to you here, but stuffing a firearm in your holiday bird for travel is just a baste of time,” TSA wrote in its post. “This idea wasn’t even half-baked.”
The handgun was wrapped in a paper or plastic covering and stuffed inside a Kikiri Quirch brand baking hen.
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The TSA used the incident to remind the public of its firearm policy.
Unloaded firearms are permitted aboard a flight if they’re declared checked in as luggage inside a hard-sided container that must “completely secure the firearm from being accessed,” according to the TSA.
It was unclear if the gun was loaded or if the traveler was charged with a crime. Koshetz told USA TODAY a criminal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security was ongoing.