A checked bag at Richmond International Airport caused trouble on Saturday when Transportation Security Administration officers discovered a suicide vest, two guns and an old military manual on bombs.
It turned out they were all realistic props for a live action role-playing game.
The bag triggered an alarm and needed to be pulled off the conveyor belt so that a TSA officer could get a better look at what was inside. The image on the X-ray machine was very suspicious, said TSA in a press release.
The officer opened the bag and found a suicide vest, two guns and an old military manual on bombs. TSA explosive experts rushed to the checked baggage room, and airport police were called immediately.
Upon investigation and detainment of the bag's owner, a man who resides in Henrico County, Virginia, officers determined the suicide vest, the two guns and the old military manual on bombs were all props meant for use in a live-action role-playing game. The suicide vest was fake, and the guns were plastic replicas.
"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 by terrorists... well, I don't know what the man could have been thinking would come of it."
TSA has seen its fair share of alarming and strange items through the year, including a mummified corpse prop from the horror movie, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
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The Transportation Security Administration screens approximately 2 million passengers and their luggage every day for prohibited items, including weapons and explosives.
