A passenger managed to waltz past JFK’s ramped-up security gantlet with three boxcutters in his carry-on luggage — easily boarding an international flight while carrying the weapon of choice of the 9/11 hijackers, sources told The Post yesterday.
The stunning breach grounded the flight for three hours Saturday night and drew fury from Port Authority cops, who accused the Transportation Security Administration of being asleep on the job.
“In case anyone has forgotten, the TSA was created because of a couple boxcutter incidents,” said one PAPD source, referring to the weapons used by al Qaeda operatives to commandeer the jets they later slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11.
The two TSA agents and supervisor who completely missed the blades at a security checkpoint “will all be disciplined and undergo remedial training,” said spokeswoman Ann Davis.
The incident happened at around 10 p.m. Saturday as factory worker Eusebio D. Peraltalajara, 45, of Jersey City waltzed past the screeners on his way to a Dominican Republic-bound flight, the sources said.
Agent Ahmir Wilkerson, supervisor Anthony DeJesus and at least one other screener allowed his carry-on luggage — with the boxcutters with razor blades — to pass through the X-ray machine, police sources said.
Once aboard Santiago-bound Flight 837, flight attendant Fausto Penaloda, 40, asked him to stow his luggage in the overhead storage bin.
As Peraltalajara’s shoved it into the compartment, Penaloda saw the boxcutters fall out of the bag, according to a police report.
He grabbed the boxcutters and alerted the captain and first officer.
They called JetBlue security, which raised the alarm to PAPD Emergency Service Units, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI, sparking an evacuation of the plane’s 136 passengers and five crew members.
The PAPD’s Canine Unit swept the plane for bombs and all of the passengers had to be rescreened.
Peraltalajara told authorities that he used the boxcutters for work at a Secaucus manufacturing plant and simply forgot that they were in his luggage. He was not charged with any crime.
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5 Responses
IM HASHEM LO YIMUR EER SHUV SHUKAD SHOMER
You never know when you’ll need a boxcutter on a plane. The meat might be a little tough, or you may want to share a slice of an apple with a fellow passenger.
The box cutter that shook the world.
The reason that a box cutter was able to highjack a plane on 9/11 is only because there wasn’t a single armed person on board. Had they been ninjas they could have done it without the box cutter as well. I once had a precision screwdriver confiscated. I guess they were afraid I would threaten the pilot with unscrewing the window.
While they were patting eveyone down, the luggage was hiding the weapon.
No. 3: I think your head tefillin is too tight.