Tsa Screeners | featured news

Eight screeners at Newark Airport in New Jersey were fired Wednesday morning after they were caught on video sleeping on the job or failing to follow standard operating procedures for screening checked bags, authorities said.

Two former and two current airport security screeners were arrested this week on federal charges of drug trafficking and bribery for smuggling large bundles of cocaine and other illegal drugs through security checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport in exchange for cash, authorities said.

Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

A Transportation Security Administration inspector found marijuana in the checked luggage of rapper Freddie Gibbs this week, but rather than confiscate it the screener left a mildly chiding note, the musician told the world via Twitter. "C'mon Son," the screener wrote on the TSA "Notice of Baggage Inspection" on Wednesday, when the rapper flew to Denver to perform.

The Transportation Security Administration says it plans to fire the screener who left a note in the luggage of a female passenger. A message posted on the agency’s blog late Thursday said, “TSA has completed its investigation of this matter, and has initiated action to remove the individual from federal service.”