TSA Supervisor Waits Hours To Report Possible Pipe Bombs

TSA agents at New York's La Guardia airport reportedly discovered possible pipe bombs in a passenger's bag, but failed to notify police for six hours, according to the New York Post.

The discovery occurred at 11:30 a.m. Monday in a male passenger's carry-on. Inside, screeners saw one gold and one silver object, both six inches long with "springs" inside. Thinking they could be bombs, the agents called their supervisor. (Check out a photo of the pipes here.)

The items were screened for explosives and determined not to be a threat, reports CNN. The passenger said the pipes were for homeopathic medicine. The pipes were removed from the bag and set aside. The supervisor let the passenger pass without taking any information.

According to the Post, the supervisor didn't think to notify the police until 3:00 p.m. After which it took an additional two hours for the bomb specialist to arrive. However, CNN reports that when the next shift arrived, officers thought they were test dummies for TSA training. When they learned otherwise, the Port Authority Police Department was called.

By both accounts the objects were removed from the airport between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. They were taken to the police bomb range and determined not to be a threat.

According to a TSA spokesperson, the police were called only "out of an abundance of caution."