A New York airport screener who removed two pipes from a traveler's bag and set them aside

The officer screened the item for explosives, determined them not to be a threat and cleared the passenger through the checkpoint, a Transportation Security Administration official said.

But the officer prevented the metal item from going through because of its "material and appearance," a TSA official said.

When the next shift arrived, one officer saw the items and mistakenly believed they were test objects, used to check screener proficiency. When that officer later learned they were not test items, the officer alerted others, and the TSA contacted the Port Authority Police Department, responsible for protecting the airport.

No one could give a good account of what it was, so we did the safe thing and called (the) NYPD bomb squad," Port Authority Police Department spokesman Al Della Fave told CNN.

We have still not been told what it was or what it was composed of," Della Fave said.

Port authority spokesman Della Fave said the police force will "speak with their (TSA) supervisors to determine how or why this breakdown in communications took place so it won't happen again."