...TSA screeners took a closer look at his checked baggage. It was then that they discovered suspicious items in his bag, a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and box cutter, according to another U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation.
None of the checked items violated U.S. security rules, so TSA allowed al Soofi to fly.
Kip Hawley, the former Transportation Security administrator, said it is not unusual to find items like watches and cell phones bound together on flights to countries like Yemen. He said this would always catch the screener's eye. In 2007, TSA alerted screeners that suspicious items found at U.S. airports may indicate that terrorists were conducting dry runs. Screeners are deliberately on the lookout for such items....
WHY? Why is it not illegal to bundle cell phones and carry them on flights to countries KNOWN to have problems with terrorist activities? This is ridiculous.
