Individuals have certainly gone to great lengths to try to sneak prohibited items past airport security in 2025, yet the TSA has been equally diligent in uncovering them.
When flying, there are stringent guidelines that dictate what items are permissible onboard, all to ensure passenger safety during flights.
The restrictions cover a range of items from liquids to weapons, with the aim of preventing any potential harm while airborne.
Despite these guidelines, some travelers opt to flout the rules. The TSA’s recent revelation of confiscated items from the previous year highlights the extent of the bizarre attempts to bypass security.
Air travel in the US is currently focused on enhancing efficiency, allowing passengers to navigate security checkpoints more smoothly.
Technological advancements like the Real ID requirement and biometric facial scanning are in place, but nonetheless, travelers can still face delays if they carry unusual items.
In 2025, TSA agents encountered an assortment of peculiar objects.
Although some might suspect passengers just forget the regulations, there seemed to be more deliberate attempts at concealment, according to a TSA officer at Newark Liberty International Airport.
“I think that’s what shakes things up a bit when you’re seeing not just the passenger having something in a bag, but they are really deliberately doing a lot of work to hide things,” Gabrielle Connor-Findley shared with The Post. “I think that’s what makes it more interesting and the fact that we can actually find it more challenging.”
For instance, a gun was discovered inside a guitar case in October.
“Clearly the officers are paying really good attention and yeah, I’m super proud of that,” Connor-Findley remarked. “We are very well trained, we are really alert, and we care on top of [it] all.”
The individual involved claimed ignorance of the gun, stating the case was a gift from a friend.
In late June, a BB gun was located within the lining of a suitcase, and the TSA alerted the Port Authority Police.
Another peculiar item found was a set of throwing stars, small metal blades shaped like stars.
“It’s just not something that you see,” Connor-Findley told The Post, describing it as ‘very odd’.
“You’re going to take a double, triple look. You’re like, ‘Is this what I think it is?’”
At Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) in mid-September, a stun-gun disguised as a flashlight was confiscated.
A knife hidden within a belt buckle was also found, prompting the Maryland Transportation Authority Police to search the passenger after it was spotted during the X-Ray screening.
There was even a case involving an employee who was found with a comb knife.
The Newark staffer was reportedly caught with a money-themed comb knife in Terminal B, resulting in their arrest.
“They’re not letting anything past them just because it’s an employee,” noted Connor-Findley.
The final discovery involved pills hidden in a paper towel inside a passenger’s shoe, seized in December by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.