GULF SHORES, Ala.—A TSA agent discovered a set of stolen Civil War-era cannonballs in a passenger’s suitcase during a routine security screening at an Alabama airport earlier this month, law enforcement officials said.
The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Friday that the relics were discovered at Gulf Shores International Airport on July 18 after the agent observed what appeared to be a large, opaque item inside a suitcase during an X-ray screening. When he opened the luggage, he found five small cannonballs wrapped in paper towels and notified a supervisor.
“I had never seen anything quite this unique,” TSA Officer Justin Dupree said in a statement from the agency. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.”…