TSA’s Top 10 Finds of 2020

It has become a tradition for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to release an annual “Top 10” list of the ‘best’ things the agency’s officers find travelers’ checked and carry-on bags.

The list for 2020 has just been issued in video form (below).

What made the TSA list?

#10 was a sling shot.

#9: Knives hidden in a hollowed out book.

#8 was a stash of 107 Roman candles found New York’s LaGuardia Airport in early November 2020.

#7: A smoke grenade found at Dulles International Airport

#6 A shark in a jar, found at Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) in November.

#5 Again at LaGuardia in November, 2020. TSA officers spotted what looked like a pipe bomb in a carry-on bag. “When one of the end caps was removed, a partially smoked cigar was found inside,” TSA reports, “It turned out that the item was a homemade humidor for a traveler’s cigars.”

#4 Marijuana concealed inside checked bags, discovered at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

#3 In July, while scanning checked baggage at Newark-Liberty International Airport, TSA officers found an assault rifle, a high-capacity magazine, four boxes of hollow-point bullets, three magazines, one of which was fully loaded, and two additional boxes of rifle ammunition “artfully concealed” (as TSA says) in the lining of a checked bag.

#2 In September at John F. Kennedy International Airport TSA officers spotted two large electronic items wired to what appeared to be a tampered power source. It looked like an improvised explosive device but was later identified as a solar panel wired to the batteries to power the electronic item.

#1 Here TSA’s list of great ‘catches’ veers into the “aw, that’s romantic.”

These two lovebirds are TSA canine handlers at Newark Liberty International Airport. They got married in June and, of course, Obelix and Proto were on hand to help celebrate.

Here’s the full TSA video of the Top 10 Catches of 2020.

For your entertainment, we’ve include a few Top 10 lists from past years too.

And here’s why we still really miss TSA’s Bob Burns.

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2 thoughts on “TSA’s Top 10 Finds of 2020

  1. Replica bombs and things that could be misconstrued as bombs are not allowed. Ditto for toy guns and fake grenades.

  2. Rich McClear says:

    Two of these seem like they should not have been problems. Was the passenger allowed to keep the humidor and the solar powered device when it was discovered that they were not a pipe bomb or an IED? Did they get in trouble?

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