TSA Detects Stolen Civil War Cannonballs in Alabama Luggage

A routine baggage screening at Alabama's Gulf Shores International Airport on July 18 escalated into a security alert when Transportation Security Administration officers discovered five stolen Civil War-era cannonballs inside a passenger's checked luggage. The inert artifacts, which had been taken from the historic Fort Morgan, were intercepted before the traveler could board a flight.

Lead TSA Officer Justin Dupree made the initial discovery while screening the bag. He observed large, opaque masses on his X-ray screen, which he first thought might be medicine balls. Upon closer inspection, he saw the objects were metal spheres wrapped in paper towels, with the largest roughly the size of a grapefruit. Concerned they could be live explosives, Dupree immediately alerted his supervisor, Richard Cash.

"My first thought was, I couldn't see a fuse and need to get some help quick," Dupree said. "I couldn't see the entire item but was scared I might have been holding a live explosive."

Dupree, a four-year TSA veteran, said he had never encountered a situation like this, calling it an "Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation." Supervisor Richard Cash agreed the items posed a...