2 Investigators: The Crazy Things People Try To Get Past Airport Security
(CBS) -- Nearly 14 years after the September 11th attacks forever changed airport security, it is hard to believe what people still try to get past screeners.
CBS 2's Dave Savini reports.
Despite a ban on anything that can be used as a weapon aboard planes, some passengers at O'Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport attempt to carry on an arsenal of throwing stars, brass knuckles, deadly blades and guns.
These items fill up TSA bins weekly -- hundreds of pounds of cork screws, pocket knives and tools along with power drills, nail guns, bullets and guns.
Midway has had more guns confiscated so far in 2015 than the total seized last year. Nationwide, last year, 2,212 guns were seized by TSA agents nationwide, a 22 percent increase from the year before.
Plenty of travelers also are having trouble remembering to pick up items, like cell phones, after they go through security. A vault in the upper level of O'Hare holds items accidentally left behind at checkpoints.
Each year, distracted travelers accidentally leave behind about 1,200 laptops at O'Hare TSA screening stations alone. Nationwide, it numbers in the thousands. Smart phones, too.
Those electronics are kept for 30 days, then sent to TSA headquarters where personal information is erased, TSA Spokesman Mike McCarthy says.
While electronics go to TSA headquarters, other items are sent to the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. The items are posted on a government iBid auction Web site and are either sold individually or by the pound.
Jewelry likely would be sold by the piece, while Swiss Army Knives are sold by the pound.
They sell a lot of snow globes too says Curtis Howard, a CMS administrator.
"You've got glass here," Howard says. "So if this glass were broken on a flight, it could very easily become a weapon."
Also to be auctioned off are bolt cutters, box cutters, tools, lots of belts, sunglasses, souvenirs, watches and even whips.
Passengers can leave security and find somewhere to store or ship prohibited items. Or they can abandon it and let it get auctioned.
The iBid auction raises about $100,000 a year for the state.
