TSA Officer Pretended To Find Cocaine In Flyers' Bags

The Smoking Gun has procured internal TSA memos about the security officer who was fired after pulling jokes on travelers by pretending to find cocaine in their luggage.

It turns out the powder was creatine that the officer was supposed to be using to test new bomb detection equipment.

One of the of the incident reports is from a fellow officer who saw what happened:

On Jan 5th, 2010, I observed BAO [redacted] approach a female passenger on lane #7. He showed her a small clear plastic bag which contained white powder. He told her that he found this bag amongst her property in the x-ray bin and he believed the white powder was cocaine.

The female passenger [redacted] was surprised to hear this as she denied ever using drugs. She also stated that she had no idea how the plastic bag got mixed in with her property.

BAO [redacted] told her that she did not have to lie to him and asked her again as to why her property would have this plastic bag. She vehemently denied having the plastic bag in her property. Once BAO [redacted] realized that she was getting upset, he told her it was a hook and she would have to admit that it was funny. She said it was not funny but was rather cruel and unprofessional o him to do this.

Once the female passenger left the checkpoint (D/E), I informed ST30 [redacted] of my observation of this incident.

Pretty screwed up abuse of power. Also screwed up? Out of the six workers interviewed, this was the only one who reported the incident to a supervisor.

Memos Detail TSA Officer’s Cocaine Pranks [The Smoking Gun]

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