Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport; suspect in custody, feds say

A Pennsylvania man is in custody after an explosive was allegedly present in his checked baggage at Lehigh Valley Worldwide Airport on Monday, courtroom paperwork present. Mark Muffley, 40, was taken into custody by the FBI later that evening.

Throughout routine screening by Transportation Safety Administration brokers, Muffley’s bag set off an alarm indicating it contained suspicious gadgets, based on a legal grievance. TSA personnel discovered a “round compound, roughly three inches in diameter, wrapped in a wax-like paper and clear plastic wrap hidden within the lining of the luggage,” the grievance stated.

The “rapid space” of the airport the place the system was discovered was then evacuated “out of an abundance of warning,” TSA stated in an announcement.

The FBI was then contacted and an explosives professional discovered that the cylinder was crammed with flash powder and a kind of powder “in keeping with a industrial grade firework.” The system additionally appeared to have had a “pastime fuse” — a kind of fuse that burns slower than a “fast fuse” — added on, the grievance alleges.

An FBI agent decided that the powders had been “prone to ignite from warmth and friction and posed a major threat to the plane and passengers.”

A can of butane, a lighter, a pipe with white powder residue, a wi-fi drill with cordless batteries and two taped-together floor fault circuit interrupter retailers had been additionally discovered within the baggage, the grievance stated.

Muffley was booked to fly to Orlando, however by no means boarded the flight, the grievance stated. Safety footage confirmed him leaving the airport shortly after he was paged on the airport’s public tackle system, based on the grievance.

The FBI arrested Muffley at his dwelling in Lansford, Pennsylvania. He’s due in courtroom Thursday, the place he’ll seem just about for a possible trigger and detention listening to.

—Pat Milton contributed reporting.