A Queens man was busted at John F. Kennedy International Airport after surprised TSA officers spotted an ineptly concealed handgun in a checked bag, officials said Thursday.
Officers were alerted something was up when the suitcase carrying the gun triggered an alarm as it passed through a luggage scanner on Saturday. Once they checked the bag, the weapon wasn’t hard to find — it was wrapped in tinfoil inside a hollowed-out DVD player, according to the TSA.
The concept of wrapping a gun in aluminum had TSA employees scratching their heads.
“I don’t know why he thought that would be a good idea,” said TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
The amateurish attempt to conceal the unloaded 9 mm handgun soon became a punchline on her Twitter account.
“Want to travel with a gun? I can assure you that wrapping it in aluminum foil and then concealing it inside a DVD player isn’t the way to go about it. Queens man was arrested after @TSA officers at @JFKairport detected the artfully concealed weapon in his DVD player. C’mon man!,” wrote Farbstein.
The suspect was set to board a flight to Mexico when Port Authority police arrested him. He was charged with weapons violations, according to authorities.
His name was not immediately released.