Originally Posted by
Exec_Plat
A battery has a unique appearance on xray. I am not surprised AT ALL that TSA looks at large blocks of dense battery innards very carefully. Yes an AA is small, btu they are trained to look at batteries- AND when something is off, flag it.
A 'fake battery', perhaps that unscrews, or just something in the compartment, will look odd on xray. The same item, tossed into a toilet kit, or a knick knacks bag, would have aroused no suspicion.
But, once they say "yup. cocaine", they then held the person in custody until a LEO could arrive. It is my understanding that just possessing suspected drugs is in and of itself a 'security risk', which is how they get away with this.
This is actually pretty close to the answer. When there is something that looks different (such an organic where one is not normally found), it is searched to make certain it is not a threat item.
Cocaine does not necessarily pose a security risk, but TSOs are obliged to contact local LEOs when they find items that appear to be illegal items (like marijuana or cocaine).
Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
Seems the only way a TSA screener would know if something is an illegal drug is by having had illegal contact with those drugs.
Not quite. There are several other ways that TSOs and any number of citizens can be familiarized with different types of illicit drugs - many of them legal.
Originally Posted by
sethb
The TSA claims they're not supposed to search for drugs.
But it just happens that drugs look like explosives to the xray machines.
Yeah, right.
In some cases, that is exactly what happens. Large organic items trigger bag checks. In some cases, small organic items trigger bag checks.