Man Sneaks Box Cutters Onto Frontier Flight Out of Cincinnati, Forcing Emergency Landing in Atlanta

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A Frontier Airlines flight out of Cincinnati was forced to make an emergency landing Friday when it was a discovered a man had smuggled two box cutters onboard, an incident that federal officials are blaming on security agents failing to follow proper procedures.

No one was injured when Flight 1761, which was destined for Tampa, Fla., was forced to make the landing in Atlanta, according to WCPO Channel 9. The unidentified passenger was taken into custody by police in Atlanta, Fox 19 reports.

A statement from the Transportation Security Administration says the suspect arrived at a checkpoint at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport at about 5:30 p.m. Friday with two backpacks. The suspect had a temporary Ohio driver’s license.

The TSA says the agents using 3D technology to scan the backpacks did not spot the box cutters. The statement says the “image-review capabilities of the CT were not fully used.”

However, the agents did conduct a manual search of the backpacks and found one box cutter, the statement says.

“The visible blades were removed from the box cutter and provided back to the passenger,” the statement says. “This is contrary to standard operating procedure which requires these items to be placed in checked bags or voluntarily abandoned.”

The other backpack, which also contained a box cutter, was screened for explosives but the box cutter was not found, the statement says. A passenger on the plane tells ABC News that the suspect could be heard muttering to himself during the flight, reportedly saying he wanted to “stab people.”

The agents who conducted the searches have been placed in a “training status for remediation on CT image review and physical search procedures,” the statement says. More “refresher” training also is planned for TSA agents in Ohio and nationally.

©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.