U.S. airports have ramped up enhanced search procedures on passengers and luggage across the country in response to a threatening article in an al-Qaeda magazine, a government official told CNN on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday that the Transportation Security Administration will start conducting additional random searches, even though the measures for airport security had already been initiated a few weeks ago.
The increased aviation security comes after a recent article in Inspire Magazine, a publication by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, described how homemade bombs can be created by using only household products.
Once the travelers have passed through security checkpoints, TSA will perform more thorough random passenger and luggage searches at the gates, according to WGNtv.com.
Specifically, officials are concerned about the threat posed by non-metallic IEDs, which can only be detected by full body scanners, a technology that remains unavailable at many small airports across the U.S. largely due to their cost.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, the Homeland Security Department announced several proactive steps it's been taking, including providing more security at government buildings in major cities.
However the agency emphasizes that currently it has no information on specific or credible threats.
Meanwhile, the announcement comes after the U.S. Transportation Security Administration reported that it had seized a record number of firearms from carry-on luggage in 2014, with 2,000 guns having been confiscated as of Dec. 1, 2014.
In October, dozens of loaded firearms, inert military grenades, a mobile phone disguised as a stun gun, a tiny lipstick knife and a total of 181 guns were confiscated from carry-on bags of pistol-packing passengers travelling at major U.S. airports, according to the Transportation and Security Administration.
Among the prohibited firearms seized between Oct. 3 and Oct. 30, a total of 157 guns were reportedly loaded, nearly a third with rounds chambered, according to the TSA Blog's latest round-up.
"Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds," the TSA, who tallies the number of confiscated firearms each week, wrote on its official blog.
