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Customs UK (Gatwick Airport) - The Gangsta Granny Drug Smuggler

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The shocking weapons seized at airports in 2015: Loaded handguns, batarangs and anti-tank shells are among the items passengers tried to bring onto planes

2015 proved to be one of the busiest years for TSA officers at US airports

More than 2,500 firearms have been discovered this year, a new record

The TSA shares snaps of weapons with its 400,000 Instagram followers

Loaded firearms, a stun gun disguised as lipstick, weapons inspired by Batman, and a meat slicer with a razor-sharp blade were among the shocking and bizarre items passengers tried to bring onto planes this year.

While it may seem like common sense, passengers didn't realise or simply forgot that weapons such as guns and swords, as well as household items including meat cleavers, are banned from their hand luggage - resulting in delays for fellow travellers.

Airport security officers had one of their busiest years on record, intercepting hundreds of guns, live ammunition, inert anti-tank shells and canes with hidden knives.

These photos from the Transportation Security Administration reveal some of the most shocking items discovered by its officers at airports across the US in 2015.

The items were prevented from being taken on board domestic or international flights from the US, leading to citations or even arrest for some of the passengers involved.

With nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, the TSA regularly shares snaps of weapons that were caught by screeners.

That includes a record number of guns. More than 2,500 have been discovered as of December 17, eclipsing the previous record of 2,212, which was set in 2014.

According to the TSA, most of those who are caught with a gun in their hand luggage say they simply forgot to leave it at home.

In March, TSA officers found a lipstick stun gun at Chicago Midway International Airport, just weeks before they intercepted a stun gun disguised as a cane at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Batarangs were found in passengers' carry-on bags on a number of occasions. The Batman-inspired throwing objects are banned from hand luggage, but can be carried in checked baggage as long as they aren't prohibited under state law.

Inert grenades or replica bombs are another frequent find - and they can lead to severe delays at airports while authorities inspect them to confirm whether they are duds.

In May, a passenger tried to fly from the airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with an inert anti-tank projectile in their checked bag.

That led the TSA to issue one of their most frequent reminders - if an item looks like a real bomb, projectile, grenade or mine, it is prohibited.

Passengers can face fines of up to $11,000 (£7,400) when they are caught with a dangerous item at a security checkpoint.

The TSA said on its blog: 'Each time we find a dangerous item, the line is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested.

'This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions; that's for the law enforcement officer to decide.

'In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.'

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The shocking items passengers tried to bring onto planes in 2015

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2015 proved to be one of the busiest years for TSA officers at US airports More than 2,500 firearms have been discovered this year, a new record The TSA shares snaps of weapons with its 400,000 Instagram followers Loaded firearms, a stun gun disguised as lipstick, weapons inspired by Batman, and a meat slicer with a razor-sharp blade were among the shocking and bizarre items passengers tried to bring onto planes this year.

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One source tells of moment man put chicken through an X-Ray scanner

Children's toys are now often seen as 'security' problems by officials

Indonesian officials found skulls from a Borneo tribe in a package

Despite the stringent security checks at airports, passengers still try and sneak through the most outlandish of objects.

From animals to replica weapons, security officials have to be on their guard for the strange, out of the ordinary and occasionally disturbing items passengers try and take on a plane.

Here MailOnline Travel takes a look at some of the more bizarre items that have been seized at security.

Human skulls in saucepans

Indonesian customs officers uncovered a grisly smuggling attempt bound for Australia - a group of human skulls hidden inside saucepans.

The six skulls were intercepted in two separate cases at Indonesian airports and are suspected of being part of a prized collection for international buyers or for research use.

In February and March this year the skulls, which are believed to be from the Dayak tribe of Borneo, were hidden inside saucepans and sent from post offices in Indonesia, bound for Australia and Amsterdam.

The skulls were discovered when customs officials became suspicious after scanning the package containing four skulls, and decided to inspect it more closely.

Pigeons down trousers (and an aubergine)

An Australian traveller raised eyebrows and the suspicions of customs officers after he was found with two live pigeons and an aubergine down his underpants.

Customs officials said the 23-year-old man was caught at Melbourne Airport following a trip to the Middle East back in 2009.

THE SERIOUSNESS BEHIND AIRPORT SECURITY

Officials searched the man after they discovered two eggs hidden in a vitamin container in his luggage.

Customs Service national investigations manager Richard Janeczko said the pigeons were found wrapped in padded envelopes and held to each of the man's legs with a pair of tights.

Officials also seized seeds in his money belt and an undeclared aubergine, but are at a loss to explain why the goods were smuggled into the country.

A three-year-old boy learnt the harsh reality of airport security after having his Minion toy gun confiscated because officials said it posed 'a threat'.

Toddler Leo Fitzpatrick was left distraught after being told he could not take the toy with him while trying to board a flight from Dublin Airport with his family last month.

The airport said toy guns - especially those with a trigger mechanism - are on the prohibited items list.

Leo was travelling home from a trip to see his mother's family in Dublin when his Minion Fart Blaster toy showed up on the airport's x-ray machine.

Officials asked his mother Daire, 25, to empty his backpack and revealed the plastic megaphone toy, which lights up and makes rude noises when the trigger is pulled.

And in April this year, a four-year-old boy was frisked by airport security and then forced to hand over his plastic nerf gun after it was deemed a security risk.

James Hayward had arrived at East Midlands Airport with his parents, Phil, 44, and Hazel, 38, and his brightly coloured toy - which fires sponge darts - packed in his hand luggage for their flight out to Lanzarote.

But security officers, who were described as 'over-zealous' by the boy's father, then took exception to James's harmless toy when it was picked up on the system's X-ray machines. They demanded he hand it over and they also performed a thorough patting down and inspection of the primary school child.

Sometimes it's hard for us to be separated from our pets.

A source told MailOnline Travel that a passenger put a chicken through the X-ray scanner at the domestic flight terminal at Kathmandu Airport, Nepal.

'We were queuing through security and it really was quite surreal. There were workers passing through their brooms and equipment,' he said.

'And then one chap put his chicken through the scanner. A young-looking security officer armed with a stick nearby didn't bat an eyelid.'

No-one could confirm whether the chicken eventually made it onto the flight.

In 2010, a mum and daughter were arrested allegedly trying to transport a dead relative on to a busy holiday jet.

Staff grew suspicious at the unresponsive 91-year-old Kurt 'Willi' Jarant, but the females said that he was simply sleeping.

The wife and step-daughter claimed the Alzheimer's sufferer was alive when they arrived at Liverpool's John Lennon airport to catch an easyJet flight to Berlin.

No charges were brought against the two women.

A sculpture made of deadly weapons

A sculpture dubbed the 'War Throne' made entirely out of decommissioned weaponry sparked controversy after federal agents seized it at Philadelphia International airport this spring.

Customs agents flagged the artwork, which features inert grenades, bullets, land mines and more, when it arrived at the airport in April.

Adam Solow, who purchased the War Throne for $8,200 from acclaimed Mozambican sculptor Goncalo Mabunda, said the firearms no longer pose a threat.

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is now holding the artwork, refusing to return it unless Solow applies for a firearms importation permit or uses a broker.

Turtle down boy's underpants

An eight-year-old boy was caught trying to smuggle a pet turtle through airport customs in his underwear.

The boy, named Congcong, and his grandmother were going through security when his grandmother told him to let the turtle go as pets weren't allowed on their flight from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

Congcong was so enamored with the turtle that he refused to let go of it. At the last minute he secretly stuffed the reptile into his underwear, hoping he could smuggle it onto the plane.

But the plucky lad was busted when security officials noticed something moving in his underpants.

An alarm clock designed like a bomb

Bomb disposal units were called to Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada after a teenager tried to board a plane with an alarm clock designed to look like an explosive.

The 15-year-old was travelling to Vancouver.

He was going through security when officials noted a suspicious device in his luggage.

The explosive disposal unit was dispatched to Terminal 3, the screening area was shut down, and the surrounding area was evacuated for about three hours, reports CBC News.

The teenager was charged by police for 'mischief'.

Peel Regional Police shared a photo of the alarm clock, asking whether people thought it was 'good idea'.

Constable George Tudos told the Canadian news channel: 'The moral of the story is make sure the items you pack are allowed on a plane.

'I mean, what did he think was going to happen if he packed something like this?'

A desperate woman tried to smuggle her baby past airport security in Papua New Guinea in a backpack, as she did not have correct immigration papers for her son to leave the Philippines.

THINGS PASSENGERS TRY TO SNEAK THROUGH THE U.S.

The two-month-old was discovered by shocked staff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after he was picked up by the X-ray machine.

According to ABS-CBN News, the child was soundly asleep when he was found by security at NAIA Terminal 1.

The single mother and her son were eventually allowed to leave the airport and no charges were filed.

In 2012 an Egyptian couple arrived at Sharjah International Airport in Egypt without the correct immigration papers.

They were told they would be held in the airport for a few days, so decided to risk their chances and put their child in a bag.

An airline passenger smuggled a kitten past security checks by hiding the animal in her handbag on a flight into the UK from Greece.

Another traveller spotted the bag moving and informed authorities at Glasgow Airport after the 2,000-mile flight.

The owner then refused to be separated from the stowaway, which had not been picked up by security checks at Heraklion Airport in Crete.

A log of the incident released by Civil Aviation Authority states: 'Kitten had been missed by security on departure.'

The plane took off on September 10, 2014, without the creature being declared under the UK's Pet Travel Scheme.

The record states: 'Pax witnessed bag moving and alerted airline staff in baggage area who alerted Border Force.'

The owner was separated from the four-week old kitten, which was placed in quarantine to guard against infectious diseases.

The log reads: 'Pax refused to be separated from kitten and claimed to have appropriate documentation, however this was in their hold luggage which did not make it to the destination and was being traced.'

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Strangest things passengers have sneaked through airport security

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One source tells of moment man put chicken through an X-Ray scanner Children's toys are now often seen as 'security' problems by officials Indonesian officials found skulls from a Borneo tribe in a package Despite the stringent security checks at airports, passengers still try and sneak through the most outlandish of objects.

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A bomb is being cited as the most likely cause of a plane crash which killed 224 people. But has anything changed in recent years to make passengers safer?

Thousands of Britons are stranded in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, after the UK government suspended all air links because of security concerns over the airport there.

Intelligence reports suggest the cause of the downing of a Metrojet Airbus 321 bound for Russia was "more likely than not a terrorist bomb", according to Prime Minister David Cameron.

When it comes to smuggling a bomb on board a plane, two main groups of people can do it - passengers or staff, including ground workers and air crews.

There has to be an equal concentration on preventing both, says Norman Shanks, former head of group security at BAA. But, particularly on the staff side, things are patchy, he adds. So, how can anyone ensure airport security operations aren't infiltrated by terrorists?

One way is to screen all workers every time they enter secure areas. This has happened in the UK since the early 1990s, with the European Union deciding to do the same in 2004.

"What changed things in the UK wasn't 9/11 - it was the Lockerbie bombing," says Shanks. Some 270 people died in December 1988 when a bomb planted on a Pan Am flight from Heathrow to New York exploded.

"In the immediate aftermath we weren't sure how the device had got on to the aircraft, so we had to work at great speed to deal with the situation and we changed the rules for staff," says Shanks.

I don't have much confidence in the vetting of people.
Norman Shanks, Former head of group security, BAA

All European airport staff have to go through checks every time, however often they leave and re-enter secure areas, in the same way as passengers. There isn't the same system in place in the US and many other countries, experts say.

Passenger security at Sharm el-Sheik is tight, says Zack Gold, a visiting fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies. "If it was a bomb, it was almost certainly due to infiltration of the airport, but not by a passenger. To sneak something through the security screening in the airport would have been [more] lucky than anything else."

Earlier this year, following allegations of an employee gun-smuggling ring at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, the Transport Security Administration launched an investigation. It considered European-style screening of employees, but found this would not be a "silver bullet" to deal with concerns. Instead, it recommended random checks on employees and improved criminal and security vetting before staff were taken on.

Staff at UK airports have to undergo criminal records checks, but the Civil Aviation Authority does not reveal who has undergone further security checks "for reasons of national security".

"I don't have much confidence in the vetting of people," says Shanks. "If you have got convictions, they will come up." But there are people who can carry out terror attacks without previous convictions, known as "clean skins", he adds.

Air India flight 182 from Toronto to Delhi was blown up in 1985, with the loss of 329 lives. Prior to this time "the significant threat to civil aviation was seen as the hijacking", says the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), part of the United Nations. Within a few years there was, worldwide, a "reasonably effective screening system for passengers and their carry-on luggage", it adds.

After the attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, the ICAO tightened up its recommendations on checking passengers and luggage as well as access to planes and secure areas. But because - unlike the EU in Europe - it has no jurisdiction, it can only encourage change.

One thing that has undoubtedly improved over the last few years is the technology available to airport security. Electronic scanners are now able to detect explosive materials. Once staff are alerted, they use scanners to look for other likely components of potential bombs carried by the person with the materials or their companions.

Other measures have come in in response to particular incidents. In December 2001 Briton Richard Reid tried to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami using explosives in his shoe. This led to checks on people's footwear.

In 2006 a planned attack on seven transatlantic planes using liquid explosives was foiled. In the aftermath, strict EU and US limits were placed on the amounts of liquids passengers could take on board.

"At first, straight after the plot was foiled, no one knew what it actually involved," says David Learmount, an aviation journalist specialising in safety and security issues. "They said 'We know that these guys are up to something, but we've no idea what it is.' So passengers were banned from taking anything on board as hand luggage, even paperback books."

It wasn't until the real nature of the plot was discovered that the specific liquids ban came in, Learmount adds.

In recent years, full body scanners have been used at UK airports, including Manchester. But in 2010 Home Secretary Alan Johnson told MPs that "no one measure will be enough to defeat inventive and determined terrorists, and there is no single technology that we can guarantee will be 100% effective".

Learmount agrees, arguing that it is vital that all countries abide by United Nations standards, investing in personnel and training, while fighting to ensure corruption doesn't undermine standards. Terrorists are "looking all the time to detect any method of getting round security", says Learmount, adding: "Things are better than they were a few years ago. There wasn't universal screening of hold luggage around the world before 9/11." There is now, more or less, he adds.

Should it be proved that the Metrojet Airbus 321 crash was caused by a bomb, it will be one of few such attacks that have succeeded in their aims. The last major loss of life in such an incident happened in southern Russia in 2004, when two planes crashed, killing 89 passengers and crew.

In that sense, the changes brought in after 9/11 and the Lockerbie and Air India disasters seem to have helped - at least until now.

But the ICAO reminds us that "acts of unlawful interference continue to pose a serious threat to the safety and regularity of civil aviation".

Airport security measures

Check in: Strict regulations exist about what can be carried. No sharp objects or liquids in containers larger than 100ml. Maximum size for hand luggage is typically 56cm x 45cm x 25cm.

Hand luggage: Scanned for illegal items with an X-ray machine. Sniffer dogs and chemical hand swabs may be used to detect explosives. Passengers may be asked to prove electronic and electrical devices in their hand luggage are sufficiently charged to be switched on.

Body scanner: Passengers pass through a metal detector and or body scanners which produce an outline image showing items concealed beneath clothing or on the body.

Passport control: Biometric passports used by some countries use facial recognition technology to compare passengers' faces to the digital image recorded in their passport. Details are then automatically checked against Border Force systems and watchlists. Iris recognition is also used at some airports.

Boarding pass check: Final check before getting onto the aircraft is usually the boarding pass control. Most airports have automatic readers that verify the pass to confirm the passenger is boarding the flight that is carrying their checked-in luggage.

Baggage check: Checked baggage passes through large-scale X-ray machines and may be checked by sniffer dogs. All bags are kept completely separate from passenger areas in the terminal.
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A bomb is being cited as the most likely cause of a plane crash which killed 224 people. But has anything changed in recent years to make passengers safer? Thousands of Britons are stranded in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, after the UK government suspended all air links because of security concerns over the airport there.

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