Ammo Scare at JFK

CLIP FOUND ON JET
By LARRY CELONA and BILL SANDERSON
February 8, 2007 -- A loaded ammo clip was found aboard an American Airlines jet that had just arrived at Kennedy Airport from the Dominican Republic, and now cops are trying to find its owner.

The bullets were discovered in a seat-back pocket at about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 29 by a worker cleaning the jet after its flight from Santo Domingo, authorities said yesterday.

The plane, which had arrived at Kennedy about two hours earlier, also visited Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, that day.

But because the jet had been cleaned on its last stop in Santo Domingo, detectives are checking over the manifest from that flight, said a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman.

Twenty-six 9mm bullets were loaded into the clip, which a law-enforcement source said was from a Glock pistol.

Glocks are widely used in law enforcement, but investigators don't believe the clip belonged to a sky marshal or other law officer, said a source.

Officials weren't sure on what kind of plane the bullets were found. American usually flies the route with Airbus A300s, which can carry 267 passengers.

The clip was found in a window seat on the right side of the jet, over the wing, said the law-enforcement source.

"This is a serious breach of security," the source said. "If they can get the bullets on, they can get the gun on, too."

If the bullets got aboard the plane in Santo Domingo, they should have been found by the Dominican Republic's airport screeners, who are controlled by the country's military.

But the source said it's possible the bullets got aboard the plane at one of its other stops that day.

Like many other carriers, American transports guns and ammunition as checked baggage. Federal rules bar passengers from carrying guns and ammunition aboard.

Although screeners are supposed to check passengers for ammunition, weapons and other items banned from airplanes, lapses sometimes occur.

In 2004, a Sudanese man was arrested in London and charged with carrying five bullets in his pocket on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Washington.

At the time, the airline said the bullets posed no threat, but blamed U.S. authorities for having allowed them on board.

Only air marshals were allowed to carry guns aboard aircraft until 2003, when the FAA began a program to train pilots in firearm use.

Yikes. :shock:

nice. doubt a crewmember was back there, doubt a skymarshal was neglegent enough to leave his ammo in a seatback pocket. then again, they sit in F and won't pull out thier firearm 'till they need to.