State says two arrested with gun at airport

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two people were arrested Saturday at Honolulu International Airport after they tried to carry a weapon onto an airplane, Marilyn Kali, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation said last night.

A man and a woman from Lahaina tried to take an "undeclared and unloaded .25-caliber automatic pistol" in a carry-on bag through security at the overseas terminal, Kali said.

She said the weapon was discovered in the bag at 7:45 p.m. The two people were trying to board a Continental airliner to the Mainland.

Kali said the Sheriff's Department arrested the people "and had them booked at HPD."

An officer at the Honolulu Police Department receiving desk said last night that he showed no record of two such people being booked there.

Attempts to get further information from a local Continental executive were unsuccessful.

Ron Wright, managing director of Continental-Hawaii, said he had not been informed of the incident.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to the pistol detected by security officials as a .25 mm weapon.