Traveler Didn’t Think ‘Artfully Concealed’ Knife Was a Violation

A traveler who was detained and arrested after a knife was found “artfully concealed” in the lining of in his shoe during routine screening at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus said he didn’t think he had done anything wrong because the knife hadn’t been detected when he went through screening in Alabama.

The 38-year-old man, who is from Alabama, made the statement to Wayne County airport police after he was detained July 6, according to information obtained by the Detroit Free Press through the Freedom of Information Act.

The passenger, who reportedly had been fishing on his grandfather’s property at Clare, said “he was told that if put the knife under the insole that it would not be seen on the X-ray,”  the Transportation Security screener who discovered the knife wrote in his report.

He said TSA screeners at the Huntsville, AL, hadn’t seen the Kershaw folding knife in his shoe three days earlier when he had left for his fishing trip.

The TSA said the knife should have been checked with his luggage.

“TSA takes the discovery of prohibited items seriously and urges all passengers to check the contents of their bags before leaving home to ensure they are not bringing any prohibited items to the airport,” TSA spokesman Michael McCarthy said in a media release issued after the July 6 incident. “Every time TSA discovers artfully concealed prohibited items in a bag at the checkpoint it delays the screening process for all travelers at the checkpoint.”