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Latest Newark Airport Security Breach: Wine Bottles
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 18, 2010
Modified Feb 18, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 18, 2010
Modified Feb 18, 2010
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The Transportation Security Administration says that a security breach that closed down Newark Airport for one hour on Monday was caused by a passenger with suspicious objects in his bag who managed to bypass a second round of screening and apparently board his plane. The Star-Ledger reports, The man, who was never located, had what appeared on the X-ray to be wine bottles."
Of course, having wine bottles in one's carry-on bags is not allowed, since there's a limit of 3 ounces of liquids per container (aside from $5 bottles of water one buys at Hudson News near the gate). TSA spokeswoman said, "Screening was halted for an hour, and it was because a passenger was referred to secondary screening and walked away before the passenger could receive that additional screening. We never did locate the passenger. But we did halt screening for an hour in an attempt to locate him and we deployed officers at the gate to gate-screen passengers on all flights that were boarding, once screening started up again." In other words, sure, the TSA flagged the guy—but wasn't able to screen him again or even find him.
The 3-ounce liquid rule came into effect after a 2006 UK-based terror plot involving liquid explosives. And Newark Airport is where airplanes were grounded after a security breach initiated by a lovesick guy who sneaked past a guard in order to give his girlfriend another kiss.
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newark airport
security breach
tsa
wine bottle
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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