Jason Aramburu, JFK Passenger, Arrested For Having Knife, Construction Materials In Checked Luggage (UPDATE)

UPDATE, 8:06 pm:
Jason Aramburu contacted Huffington Post Travel to clear the air on the story that he is still shaken up over. According to Aramburu, he was traveling via Turkey on Turkish Airlines to Kenya, where he serves as the Founder and CEO of re:char, which, according to Aramburu, is "a social enterprise that provides subsistence farmers in Western Kenya with affordable technology to improve their crop yield and sequester atmospheric carbon."

Aramburu had earlier in the day flown from his native Texas to New York to catch a flight to Turkey, with the knife in his checked baggage. Aramburu says he was traveling with construction equipment, not auto parts as previously reported, to bring back to Kenya. He purchased the knife, which was listed as a "shoulder harness knife" on Amazon.com, in the United States for work in the field.

The trouble started, he says, when a woman in their group was called over the loudspeaker at JFK to speak with authorities. The knife was in the woman's checked luggage. Mr. Aramburu then spoke with police, telling them it was his knife and ended up getting arrested on the spot for criminal possession. "I've never even gotten a speeding ticket," Aramburu told The Huffington Post.

Aramburu was taken by Port Authority police to a holding cell at JFK airport, where he was held for roughly four hours before being transferred to Queens Central Booking in Kew Gardens, where he spent the night. "It was eye-opening for me," he adds. He was released from jail on Tuesday morning after a judge threw out his case.

His record will be cleared on January 27.

His trip to Kenya has been delayed a few weeks.

PREVIOUSLY, 10/5: Jason Aramburu, a 26-year-old passenger en route to Istanbul from New York's JFK airport, was stopped on Monday after TSA agents found a 'trench knife'--which comes with a large, folding blade and brass-knuckle handle--in his bag.

Aramburu, from San Antonio, was stopped around 4:50pm on Monday when an X-ray machine showed the item. Along with the knife, agents also found auto parts in the bag, the New York Post reports.

The Post reports that knives such as that are designed so the owner can wield the knife and the brass knuckles in one swing.

The catch by the TSA is solid, considering how they've missed daggers and swords, box cutters and knives on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.

Comments

[dfvboulder]

05:34 AM on 10/06/2011

The story was oddly presented. We wait until the very end to discover that the knife included brass nuckles in the handle. Nice work knife!

[NYCBruce]

02:59 AM on 10/06/2011

Sorry, dude-- The ban on carrying such items onboard pre-dates even the TSA, so "ignorance of the law" in this instance is simply absurd. I laud the inspectors for catching this, and as far as I'm concerned, they can put THIS guy on the "no-fly" list for the rest of his life. There simply IS no excuse!

[leagen]

01:49 AM on 10/06/2011

I Wonder what is done with all the stuff taken from passengers? Do the TSA people get to take it home to keep? If so I guess they have a LOT of Shampoo!

[Cyn de Harven]

05:26 PM on 10/06/2011

Not mine. Several times I've been let through with full bottles of shampoo, conditioner, perfume etc. Thank god. Of course, when they took it out of my back, I told them I'd forgotten about it in my hurry to pack and they take could take it if they wanted. Never had anything removed. Good luck I guess.

[leagen]

01:31 AM on 10/06/2011

His Surname would lead me to believe he is Black and that was why he was detained. Having a Knife in your Luggege and not in your carry on should Not be a problem I think.

[aspman07]

01:43 AM on 10/06/2011

Here we go.

[wolfml1]

12:15 AM on 10/06/2011

A knife in a checked bag and the Judge throws the case out on arrival, after wasting this guys time. How about the TSA doing their job and catching the bad guys , instead of harassing innocent people.

[babby201]

11:31 PM on 10/05/2011

I hate the airlines , I wont fly anymore ,first people started acting likes pigs, then the TSA made it feel like the trains to the camps , like out of Shindler's List.

[boomcat44]

10:33 PM on 10/05/2011

Is this what HP has come to?
Stupid parody videos?
Really?

[bdh29]

09:50 PM on 10/05/2011

I shut down a security checkpoint and was almost arrested at the Detroit Airport.

On my way to the airport, I stoppped at a gift shop and got my wife one of those hand grenade "take a number" novelty gifts for her office. My suitcase was in the trunk so I put it in my carry on bag until I got to the airport.

Needless to say, I forgot it was there. When my bag went through the scanner, I was grabbed by 3 guys and an alarm went off. They confiscated it to make sure it wasn't real.

I didn't mind, it was a stupid thing to do on my part.

[AZ Cons]

01:05 AM on 10/06/2011

You are an i d i o t

[celeb1]

05:30 AM on 10/06/2011

You should raise your standards...If you honestly think there was no problem.

[bdh29]

07:34 AM on 10/06/2011

No, I don't think you get it. What you're failing to realize is that the xray guy, who had been sitting there all morning and was probably half asleep, is watching bag after bag come through the scanner. Then out of the blue, a hand grenade goes floating across the screen. That's frickin hilaraious!

[hmadden]

08:58 PM on 10/05/2011

I can understand why TSA wouldn't want a passenger with a trench knife on the plane either on his person or in his carry-on luggage. After all, he could get at it during the flight and then who knows what. But, according to the article, the knife was in his "checked" luggage. He could not have gotten to the knife during the flight, or indeed, not until he picked up his luggage at the airport. So, exactly what was the threat to the flight? Curiouser and curiouser.

[cbaker2692]

08:57 PM on 10/05/2011

so what was the knife doing in a womans luggage and not his. I noticed how the "story" didn't mention anymore about that. As for TSA Inspectors that couldn't find thier assess if it meant saving thier lives

[ok so now what]

09:04 PM on 10/05/2011

It appears they were traveling as a group and she had some of the supplies in her luggage.

[hackitoff]

08:54 PM on 10/05/2011

I'm missing something. How did his knife in his checked baggage end up in someone elses checked baggage?

[B Marc Douglas]

08:20 PM on 10/05/2011

Well. That's one in a row!

[fhmjam]

07:54 PM on 10/05/2011

Time to target another drone........

[Unca Allen]

05:14 PM on 10/05/2011

Jos. Aramburu...heading for Istanbul....with a trench knife? Do we need any other information? So the billions of $$$ spent on TSA yields one knife and one humiliated octogenarian in ten years? Priceless!

[Sam Huston]

07:20 PM on 10/05/2011

A trench knife is a kinfe with brass knucles incorperated in the handle.

[No7]

08:40 PM on 10/05/2011

Not all of them have brass knuckles...do a little research...there are many varieties

[arthur-in-miami]

04:44 PM on 10/05/2011

I find the Pokey Pokey video offensive and undermining to the TSA which works to protect us attested to by the article here. I am disappointed to see this posted by Huffington - It is in bad taste.

[Al Schrader]

04:49 PM on 10/05/2011

Yeah, I had a bucket of KFC with a bad taste. So, I had them put it into the TSA scanner with a small India guy and two pounds of Curry Powder set on popcorn. Two minutes later it came out perfect.

[ellwood145]

05:32 PM on 10/05/2011

Al you crack me up. I fanned you once i wish i could do it again, keep vigilant AL and carry on my friend.

[hotrods1111]

09:54 PM on 10/05/2011

Screw KFC, I'm gonna head over to China and get me some Obama Fried Chicken LMAO.

[Sam Huston]

07:24 PM on 10/05/2011

The video is just plain stupid, no further explanation necessary. As for the TSA they don’t need help looking dumb, they have proven to be quite capable of doing it by themselves.