TSA officers detected this handgun tucked in a shoebox belonging to a Brooklyn man at JFK Airport last Friday. Photo Courtesy of TSA.
A Brooklyn man last Friday afternoon was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport after Transportation Security Administration officers detected a loaded .25 caliber automatic handgun in his carry-on bags, according to TSA officials and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Aquil Dunbar, 20, was arraigned on Saturday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez on a criminal complaint charging him with second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Dunbar was held on $25,000 and ordered to return to court on May 11.
According to the charges, Brown said, at approximately 3 p.m., Dunbar was attempting to enter Terminal 5 via the security checkpoint. TSA agents spotted a .25 caliber automatic pistol containing a loaded magazine with six live rounds of ammunition. The gun was inside a sock that was inside of a shoe box and then placed inside of a plastic bag. TSA officers contacted the Port Authority Police who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the firearm and arrested the man on a state weapons charge. There was no impact to airport operations, TSA officials confirmed.
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
