Authorities at John F Kennedy airport found parts of a handgun inside peanut butter jars just before Christmas.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), in a pun-filled Instagram post, said the incident took place on 22 December at New York’s JFK airport.
“You know our baggage screening officers at JFK airport weren’t nuts about this jarring find,” said the TSA post.
“Everybody should know by now that packing your firearm, ammunition and gun parts in a jif isn’t the way to go. There’s no need to get yourself in a sticky situation, be smooth and always package your items properly,” it added.
“You know we’d never skippy past sharing the rules. We’ve spread them on thick through the link in our bio. They’ll help keep you out of a jam the next time you travel.”
In a separate statement on its website, the TSA said that an officer “removed two jars of peanut butter, each containing parts of a disassembled semi-automatic handgun artfully concealed inside.”
The .22 caliber gun parts were wrapped in plastic and had been jammed into the middle of two plastic jars of peanut butter. The gun’s magazine was loaded with bullets.
“The gun parts were artfully concealed in two smooth creamy jars of peanut butter, but there was certainly nothing smooth about the way the man went about trying to smuggle his gun,” said John Essig, TSA’s Federal Security Director for JFK airport.
“Our officers are good at their jobs and are focused on their mission – especially during the busy holiday travel period.”
According to the TSA, a Rhode Island man was arrested after officials notified the Port Authority police.
Police then checked the baggage room, confiscated the items, tracked down the traveller in the terminal and arrested him.
The man, who has not been identified, faces a penalty for carrying a weapon that was recently increased to a maximum of $15,000.
The TSA’s statements on the matter were made in December, but are now being reported by several media outlets days after the agency revealed a top 10 list of unusual items its officials retrieved at security checkpoints in different airports across the US last year.
Among the other finds were guns inside a PlayStation and a raw chicken, crutches stacked with money and an inert grenade.
