A passenger going through security at San Diego International Airport had something in his pants that caught the attention of the airport scanner.
He had a couple of things.
The Transportation Security Administration said officers discovered 170 Xanax pills and what was later identified as two ounces of heroin concealed on a passenger after an advanced imaging technology scanner sounded an alarm around his groin and knee areas.
The passenger didn’t make his flight. He was instead taken into police custody.
Airport Scanner Flags Passenger’s Groin and Knee Areas
Lead TSA Officer Cesar Barajas was operating the advanced imaging technology scanner when it flagged the passenger. Barajas said he had already noticed something unusual before the man entered the machine.
“Before the passenger approached the AIT, I noticed he appeared dazed and confused but responded well to my advisements,” Barajas recalled in a TSA account of the incident. “I thought the passenger was trying to conceal something we didn’t want to find.”
Supervisory TSA Officers Charles Hannah and Noman Saeed took the passenger to a private screening room to resolve the alarm. There, officers initially found 170 Xanax pills inside a plastic container.
The passenger told officers he had Xanax pills in his pants.
That wasn’t everything the scanner had picked up.
Second Pat-Down Turns Up Another Container
During another pat-down, Saeed felt an additional anomaly in the passenger’s groin area and asked him to remove the item.
“Once felt, I prompted the passenger to remove the additional items from his groin, which he did willingly, and it appeared to be a larger container of a white powdery substance wrapped in a condom,” Saeed said.
TSA managers and San Diego Harbor Police were called. According to TSA’s San Diego Coordination Center, the substance was identified as two ounces of heroin.
TSA did not identify the passenger in its account or provide details about what criminal charges, if any, followed. The agency said he was not permitted to board his flight and was taken into police custody.
What Can TSA Airport Scanners See?
If you’ve ever wondered what TSA officers can see when you step inside an airport scanner, the view is fairly limited.
Current scanners don’t display a detailed image of the passenger. Instead, the system uses a generic outline of a person and identifies areas that may require additional screening.
“The AIT does not display the person’s body; it only displays the alarm on the avatar, prompting the officer to further investigate to clear or resolve alarms without seeing any body parts,” Saeed explained.
In this case, those alarms appeared around the passenger’s groin and knee areas, leading to the additional screening that uncovered the pills and suspected heroin.
Finding drugs isn’t TSA’s primary job. The agency’s screening procedures are focused on aviation security rather than searching passengers for illegal drugs. When officers encounter suspected illegal substances during security screening, they refer the discovery to law enforcement.
TSA’s own prohibited-items guidance states that its officers “do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs,” but suspected violations of law discovered during screening are reported to local, state, or federal authorities.
A Nine-Year TSA Officer Says This Was His Biggest Find
For Barajas, the discovery stood out even after nine years working for TSA.
“Compared to my other great catches, this is the biggest one and one I consider to be the most important because of what it was,” he said.
Barajas said he had previously intercepted stun guns, knives, and bullets, but had never encountered drugs concealed this way.
For this passenger, the trip ended before it ever got off the ground.