Security scare as bullets found in toys at airport

Security forces at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday discovered bullets hidden inside a toy in the hand luggage of a passenger boarding a flight for Uzbekistan, in what police believe to be an apparent smuggling attempt.

Security later discovered arms and drugs in the luggage of another woman.

A 36-year-old Israeli citizen who had been carrying the toy attempted to flee the scene, but was apprehended by airport security a short while later, Ynet reported. The man later told investigators he was unaware that he was carrying bullets, according to Channel 2.

He added that he had received a package from an Uzbek woman he had never met before. Arms and narcotics were later found hidden within a set of toys and dolls in the suitcase of an Uzbek national, whom the man identified as the woman who asked him to carry the package.

The Uzbek woman’s suitcase had not been loaded on to the aircraft at the time of the finding, Channel 2 reported. Both the man and the woman were transferred to a security facility for further questioning.

After the suspected smuggling attempt was uncovered, security guards at the airport unloaded all luggage from the plane in order to search for additional arms or drugs. Airport security later postponed the flight until further notice.

“As a result of us locating the weapons, we immediately applied rigorous security procedures at Ben Gurion Airport,” the head of security at the airport, Zohar Geffen, told Channel 2. “We found weapons and drugs, and we are doing everything we can in order to complete the search and get the plane safely off the ground and out of the airport.”