Practical Travel Safety Issues - Screening Device Left in Bag

Several months ago, my parents were passing through a TSA checkpoint and their bag was physically searched. When they arrived home, some sort of an unknown device they've never seen was in the bag. I have since disposed of it, but it was black, plastic, had a moving/clasping-like mechanism with a Velchro tip, and a label with the manufacturer and model number. It was rather cheap looking. While Google results did not return specifics, I think it is safe to assume it was one of the TSA's toys. Has anyone ever had a TSA item left in their bag? I see it as a careless waste of funds.

I'd guess it was a 'swab device' used to test for 'you know... Things that go boom'
IMHO nothing important and in the grand scheme of gov`t waste it was a mere penny in the flood.

Kind of worrying that security personnel can just add whatever they want to your bag though.

See this thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/practical-travel-safety-issues/1046023-tsa-introduces-laptop-magic-wand-exchange-program.html

Kind of worrying that security personnel can just add whatever they want to your bag though.

Makes a welcome change from pilfering things from it though.