RICHMOND, Va. – A suspicious bag that triggered an alarm caused a stir at Richmond International Airport Saturday.
A TSA officer pulled the bag from the conveyor belt after seeing the suspicious image on the X-ray machine, according to a TSA spokesperson.
When the officer opened the bag, they saw what appeared to be a suicide vest, two guns and an old military manual on incendiary devices. Officers immediately called airport police and TSA explosive experts, who determined the items were not dangerous.
The suicide vest was a prop and the guns were plastic replicas.
The owner of the bag was detained for questioning by local police and the FBI.
The man, a Henrico County resident, told officials that the items were meant for a live-action role-playing game.
“The good news is that there was nothing harmful in the bag,” said TSA’s Richmond Federal Security Director Chuck Burke. “The items looked realistic by design. Bringing items to an airport that are meant to resemble items known to be used by terrorists . . . well I don’t know what the man could have been thinking would come of it.”
