See, this is why smugglers duct tape their contraband to their chest and groin — so that a rogue TSA agent doesn’t simply swipe it from their coat as it goes through the security checkpoint.

But this is a lesson a traveler had to learn the hard way yesterday at JFK International Airport in New York City.

According to authorities, a TSA screener pilfered $5,000 in cash from a traveler’s coat as it made its way down the conveyor belt that goes through the X-ray scanner thing they use to not detect guns, knives and box cutters.

Around 8 p.m. ET last night, the screener is alleged to have gotten his sticky fingers on the cash, which he then wrapped in a plastic glove and took to the bathroom, where the money vanished.

Cops are looking into the possibility that the TSA screener handed the money off to another nogoodnik and that there isn’t a teleportation device through which the money could have been transported in that particular airport bathroom.

Police: TSA agent at JFK stole $5K from passenger [WSJ.com]

Thanks to Jessie for the tip!

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