The discovery of a commercial aerial mortar shell with a “quick match” fuse in a checked bag at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) resulted in the arrest and conviction of an Allegiant Air passenger and Lansford, Pennsylvania resident Marc Muffley.
A 2023 TSA press release announced the ABE great catch that began as Muffley planned to board a flight to Orlando Sanford International Airport but fled when the airline paged him after his checked bag went through additional screening. The following day, the FBI arrested Muffley whose case moved to federal district court where he pleaded guilty.
In May 2024, a U.S. District Court judge sentenced Muffley to 30 months in prison and three years supervised release for attempting to place an explosive device on an aircraft and possessing an explosive in an airport.
“This incident required me to sit up straight at my desk and take extra care to ensure we asked and got answers,” said Dan Adams, the watch officer at the Herndon, Virginia, Transportation Security Operations Center (TSOC) who took the real-time report from an ABE Coordination Center officer.
Within five minutes, notifications from the TSA officer in the checked baggage resolution area to the TSA Pennsylvania federal security director and law enforcement and then to the TSOC made everyone aware of a potentially deadly, artfully concealed mortar shell found in the lining of Muffley’s checked bag.
“I remember taking the initial call and immediately thinking this was a more serious situation as the Transportation Security Specialist-Explosives (TSS-E) officer had already viewed the image by the time TSOC got notified and had determined that it was likely a mortar of some sort,” said Adams. “The incident got even more escalated when we learned that the passenger had left the airport shortly after his name was paged and that the local bomb squad had determined the item was an active device.”
While Adams briefed his leadership and alerted others across the country who needed to know, the officers at ABE worked the escalated event with confidence that only comes from repetitive theoretical and practical training.
“The checked baggage training I provide at ABE to assist in spotting obvious threats stems from the training produced at the headquarters (HQ) level,” said Master Security Training Instructor Nicholas Moore. “HQ provides images, concepts and criteria but also allows us as instructors to ‘make it our own.’ I take full advantage of that. I have a ‘keep it simple’ approach when it comes to processing images.
“You must know the criteria like the back of your hand, but knowing what to consider at each step is the hard part. When teaching the initial certification course, I ask officers to look at an image and tell me what it’s NOT. It forces them to say the criteria out loud and after a few hours of saying those words, it becomes second nature. I also remind them to be disciplined and stick to the script.”
Officers followed their training and evacuated the checked baggage screening area and the Allegiant baggage make up area, while the Allentown Fire Department Bomb Squad, assisted by the Bethlehem Fire Department Bomb Squad, removed the mortar in a bomb containment enclosure placed inside a total containment vessel to transport to a secure FBI storage location.
Like Moore, TSS-E Nicholas Apostolou’s training with the officers is extensive, but it also extends outside the TSA boundaries. Having a 20-year career as a police officer, bomb tech and fire investigator before joining the agency, he has cultivated longstanding relationships with airport police and firefighters; the local bomb squads; FBI; and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents out at the Allentown field office.
“In my 12-and-a-half years here at ABE, I have formed a bond with the police officers and firefighters here at ABE,” said Apostolou. “I meet with them weekly to discuss current events and answer any questions they may have. I have also conducted several tabletop exercises that go over ‘what if’ scenarios here at ABE.”
Apostolou recognizes the high training standards his field colleagues have in preparing officers for the screening mission.
“The things I do at all my airports are things done by all TSS-Es across the nation,” said Apostolou. “I just have a great group of people at my airports, and we truly work very well together.”
“The HQ training team is empowering instructors,” emphasized Moore. “They are asking for input and, most importantly, putting that input into action. I believe that is where the drive comes from. When you can see one of your ideas distributed nationwide, there’s pride involved. Once you bring pride to the table, that is what makes any particular training team the best.”
“Transportation security officers are highly trained and highly skilled professionals at the front line of aviation security who are focused on their mission, and catches such as this illustrate the point,” said TSA Pennsylvania Federal Security Director Karen Keys-Turner. “This is an example of how the strong partnerships we have established with the airport authority, FBI and local law enforcement came together to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public. I commend our entire TSA team at Lehigh Valley International Airport and the professional manner in which this incident was handled.”
By Karen Robicheaux, TSA Strategic Communications & Public Affairs