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Weapons found in Marine's baggage
Check at Logan prompts arrest
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | April 20, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/20/weapons_found_in_marines_baggage/
Do any of you gun rights extremists want to try to defend this fellow?
Weapons found in Marine's baggage
Check at Logan prompts arrest
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | April 20, 2009
A North Carolina-based US Marine was arrested at Logan Airport yesterday after federal transportation screeners discovered an undeclared semiautomatic weapon, ammunition, and bomb-making materials in his checked baggage, authorities said.
Marine Corporal Justin W. Reed was in Boston on a layover from Las Vegas and was bound for Charlotte, officials said. The materials in his bags apparently eluded detection at the Las Vegas airport and were discovered in Boston only because baggage handlers inadvertently routed his arriving luggage to baggage claim rather than onto his connecting flight, Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis said.
"They put it on the baggage carousel as if he was staying in Boston," Davis said. "Because it was placed on the carousel, which introduced it into a public area, that required TSA to screen it before it was allowed back on a flight."
Davis said the TSA was "actively investigating" why the illicit materials, including fuel and explosives, were not discovered during screening in Las Vegas and loaded onto the cross-country flight.
TSA screeners in Terminal B at Logan called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after they said they discovered the following items in Reed's luggage: a locked gun box containing a semiautomatic handgun; a fully loaded gun magazine; several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition; three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture; military fuses; electronics kit boxes with various components; and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator.
None of the discovered items, aside from the gun, can legally be checked onto a flight, Davis said, because they could cause an explosion in flight.
A handgun can be checked only if it is unloaded, secured in a lock box, and declared by the passenger at check-in, she said.
Reed had not declared the weapon, she said.
Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, said Sergeant Michael Popovics, a State Police spokesman.
He was booked at the State Police barracks at Logan Airport and held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He will be arraigned at East Boston Municipal Court tomorrow.
Davis said she did not know what flight Reed took to Boston, but the only US Airways flight from Las Vegas arriving in Boston yesterday morning was Flight 66, which left Las Vegas at 10:15 p.m. and arrived in Boston at 6:08 a.m.
Davis said he was booked on US Airways Flight 877, which left Boston at 8:08 a.m. and arrived in Charlotte at 10:36 a.m., airline records show. US Airways declined to comment.
Reed is stationed at Camp Lejeune and was returning to the base, State Police said.
Davis said all checked baggage is screened by TSA at the point of origin. Checked baggage on connecting flights is only screened during a layover if the flight originated outside the US, she said.
"TSA will work with management in Las Vegas to ascertain how these items were not identified during the screening process at the McCarran International Airport," she said.
Calls to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and to the Marine Corps press office were not returned.
The Department of Defense referred questions to the Marine Corps.
Globe correspondent Matt Collette contributed to this report. John C. Drake can be reached at [email protected].
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/20/weapons_found_in_marines_baggage/