AlwaysAisle

Female U.S. citizen in her 60s was arrested at Haneda Airport for carrying live ammunitions for 22 caliber gun.

A women arrive at Haneda Airport from the U.S. on July 4th along with her husband. They went through customs and came out on landside. They were connecting to a flight to southeast Asia on evening of July 4th from Haneda. While at the departure check-in area a women was going through her carry-on bag and realized there was 100 live bullets for a gun she owns back at the U.S.

A women threw away bullets in a trash can on a departure check-in area. Later bullets in a trash can was found by custodian/cleaning person. Airport police reviewed the security camera video around the area where the trash can is located, and identified the women. The women was arrested at Haneda Airport and she has admitted that she was the one threw bullets in a trash can.

Looks like bullets in a carry-on bag was not detected at an airport security at the U.S. departing airport. At customs at Haneda airport, usually passenger belongings go through x-ray machine only if a passengers were selected for a secondary screening. As most of us experience entering Japan, most of the time customs officers simply look at a passport and wave through not checking a content of belongings.

codex57

Good reminder that the rest of the world isn't as cavalier about guns as the US.

Still, that's like a couple boxes of ammo. I mean, it won't take up the whole carry on, but it's a noticeable size and possibly weight when in a bag as small as a carryon. How messy was that carryon that she didn't notice a couple boxes of ammo? I need every inch of my carryon.

OskiBear

Good work on TSA at her outbound US airport for missing 100 live rounds!?!

5khours

I saw a guy get stopped in screening in Boston because he had a couple of loose rounds he'd forgotten about in the bottom of a carry on duffle bag. They took him away in handcuffs. Long time ago. Pre 9/11.

Loren Pechtel

1) .22 is small enough that some boxes are 100. She very well might have had only one box, not two.

2) The fact that she threw them away shows it was unintentional and she took action to fix the problem. I don't think there should be any prosecution as there was provably no criminal intent in her actions.

ainternational

Agreed. Any kind of arrest seems completely ridiculous. Many airports used to have amnesty boxes. You certainly didn't get arrested for using those.

5khours

If she didn't know she had the bullets, then no crime.

nishimark

I don't understand how she was picked up so quickly. She dumped the bullets in the trash at the departure gate, but was found before she boarded the departing flight? Sounds like very quick work from the cleaning person finding the bullets to the police finding her in the terminal. Or, maybe I'm missing something.

WorldLux

Throwing them away in a publicly accessible space is pretty idiotic though.

Eeeehhh, no. She carried the ammo onto a flight and has therefore committed a crime (if not multiple). If it was as simply as "I didn't know I had the <insert goods>" to get out of a crime, then it would be pretty darn easy to not get caught.

"I didn't know the crystal meth was in my bag"
"I didn't know the 20,000$ were in my bag"
...

WilcoRoger

Are you sure it's a crime in JAPAN to carry ammo to a flight in the US? (bringing them to the country is a different cup of tea)

WilcoRoger

She probably had all her liquids in a 1 liter bag and quite possibly had her private parts fondled - TSA did their best.

ltfly

^

Carnforth

Agreed
but it's also negligent up to the point of criminality - imagine the potential consequences of the contents of the rubbish bin being incinerated.

jib71

The consequences aren't as dramatic as one might imagine:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...reveals-truth/

AlwaysAisle

The lady has made mistakes on:

1.
First and foremost, having bullets in a carry-on bags. Even in the U.S. people have been arrested for carrying weapons through airport security unknowingly because they forgot they had it in a bag. As my lawyer friend said, even in the U.S. ignorance is no excuse in law.

2.
She threw bullets in a trash can. What she should have done is to contact local authority rather than simply throwing in a trash can. She was carrying illegal items, did she think throwing it in a trash can will make situation better?

In Japan firearms are heavily controlled, possession and use is tightly regulated and permits and licenses issued only to limited situations only. Law enforcement, athletes for approved sport events use guns and refiles, and hunters. For hunters there are two parts to the documents, permit and license. Need a permit to have a gun in possession, and need a license to be able to use a gun. In Japan without a permit it is illegal to have bullets in possession. Throwing highly controlled and regulated item in public trash can will not make thing better.

In Japan trash cans in public places has become security issues since 1995 Sarin Incident on subway Hibiya Line at Tokyo which resulted in 6 death, 10 critical condition, and more than a thousand treated at hospitals.

Immediately after 1995 Sarin Incident public trash can has pretty much disappeared in Tokyo. Public trash can has slowly reappeared and today it is back to what it used to be. However, many public trash cans in Tokyo now has see through panel on a side using transparent trash bags. Easier to see the content inside of a trash can.

Now with 2020 Olympics approaching at Tokyo, authorities have already started heighten security procedures, especially at places like international airports and major train stations. One of those procedures is to empty trash can frequently so that contents do not sit in a trash can for more than an hour. Also, seems like they do x-ray trash content if it is not all of them.

Any way, it is highly unlikely that the lady will serve jail term in Japan. Even any monetary fine can be unlikely in this event if she did not have any prior record. However, I do think it is likely that she will now have a record in Japan. Next time if she is doing international to international transfer at Japanese airports, she should simply go through transfer security and stay at gate side. Not to go through passport control and spend few hours out in fresh air.

As for authorities, this kind of incidents are excellent real life test how their security procedures are working and how they can improve their procedures.