A Transportation Safety Administration officer discovered a set of stolen Civil Warfare-era cannonballs inside a traveler’s suitcase throughout routine baggage screening at an Alabama airport earlier this month, authorities stated.
In accordance with a TSA assertion, the invention was made July 18 at Gulf Shores Worldwide Airport after an officer noticed a big, opaque object on the X-ray picture of a suitcase. At first, the merchandise appeared to resemble a drugs ball. However when the bag was opened, the officer discovered 5 small cannonballs wrapped in paper towels and instantly alerted a supervisor.
“My first thought was, ‘I couldn’t see a fuse and must get some assist fast,’” Lead TSA Officer Justin Dupree stated in a assertion Friday from the company. “I couldn’t see the complete merchandise however was scared I might need been holding a reside explosive.”
TSA through AP
“I had by no means seen something fairly this distinctive,” Dupree stated. “I’ve seen inert grenades and coaching munitions however by no means an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type scenario.”
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The TSA stated the cannonballs had been inactive and contained no explosive materials or lively parts. The most important was roughly grapefruit-sized and weighed about as a lot as a shot put ball. Even so, cannonballs are categorized as artillery munitions and are prohibited from being transported on plane.
“I had by no means seen something like this,” Supervisory TSA Officer Richard Money stated in an announcement. “It was my first time coping with a probably reside explosive, and it’s truly solely the second incident we’ve had since JKA opened in Might 2025.”
Investigators later concluded the cannonballs had been taken from Fort Morgan after figuring out paint markings that fort employees had utilized to the artifacts. Officers stated the relics dated again to the American Civil Warfare. The historic fort close to Gulf Shores has figured prominently in a number of army conflicts, together with the Civil Warfare.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Workplace stated Thursday {that a} juvenile stole the cannonballs from a storage space on the fort after which put them of their grandmother’s checked baggage. The grandmother advised officers she was unaware the artifacts had been stolen.
Spokespersons for Fort Morgan didn’t reply to an e mail in search of remark. The sheriff’s workplace stated the establishment declined to press prices, and the artifacts had been returned to the fort.
TSA has been screening greater than 2 million passengers a day this summer season and has encountered some uncommon gadgets in vacationers’ baggage. This summer season alone, TSA has discovered two reside smoke grenades, an inert grenade, a pipe bomb look-alike and a samurai sword hidden in a guitar case.
