The September 11th attack
Airport seizes 1,500 illegal items
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Security workers at Honolulu International Airport have seized 1,500 contraband items since last week's terrorist attacks.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
State transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali, glancing over carry-on items confiscated at Honolulu's airport, shook her head in wonder. On a table lay a 12-inch silver dagger, a fake grenade, brass knuckles and various switchblades.
State transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali holds a large knife that was seized as Joe Guyton, airline security coordinator, looks on.
"What were these people thinking?" Kali asked.
Joe Guyton, airline security coordinator for the Airlines Committee of Hawai'i, said many of the items were probably confiscated when passengers were still unfamiliar with new flight carry-on restrictions that banned sharp objects. Items taken included 837 scissors, 303 razor blades, 161 nail files, 43 pocket knives, eight can openers, four corkscrews and 18 screwdrivers.
Guyton said no firearms have been confiscated here since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Referring to sharp objects transported for professional reasons, such as chefs' knives, Guyton said:
"If people took time to pack these items with their luggage and declare them at the baggage check-ins, they wouldn't have these problems at the security checkpoints."
Diabetics requiring needles for insulin and people with heart conditions who carry nitroglycerine should declare the items at the baggage check-in.
And while Hawai'i airline security is not taking away aerosol hair sprays and deodorants, Guyton said there's no guarantee that Mainland airports may not do so.
Airport security crews are also sending passengers' cell phones through X-ray machines to detect handmade guns. None have been tracked in Hawai'i.
"Some of the Mainland airports are searching cell phones that may be four-round pistols," Guyton said.
Souvenir lighters resembling pistols, toy guns and a replica grenade were also confiscated because they could be used during a hijacking. "No one during a hijacking is going to ask if the item is authentic," Guyton said. "That's why they were taken away."
If passengers complain over the loss of nail clippers and cuticle removers, Guyton tells them anything used as a weapon to either take over or damage an aircraft is considered contraband.
"These are changing times and we're going to have to adjust with them," he said.
Any confiscated items can be claimed at the airport's lost-and-found section up to 45 days after seizure.
