U.S. man stopped with missile launcher ‘souvenir’ in his luggage

The signs at every airport are clear: don’t pack handguns in your luggage.

But perhaps it’s time to add a new sign for larger, more explosive firearms.

A U.S. traveller was stopped at the Baltimore airport on Monday with a full-sized missile launcher stowed in his luggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The man was an active member of the military and his vehicle-busting weapon was a little souvenir from Kuwait, officials said.

“Perhaps he should have picked up a keychain instead!” the TSA tweeted on Monday.

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Officials say the missile launcher was inert and was handed over to the fire marshal for disposal.

A sticker on the side of the object shows it was a Griffin missile launcher, a piece of heavy-duty hardware manufactured by the U.S.-based firm Raytheon.

“The Griffin missile system is an air- and ground-launched, precise, low-collateral-damage weapon for irregular warfare operations,” Raytheon says on its website. The weapons maker says Griffin missiles are designed to be launched from an aircraft of a warship — not a person.

Authorities say the man was allowed to catch a connecting flight home to Texas with a much lighter bag of luggage in tow.

—With files from The Associated Press