Rockland County Man Arrested at JFK with Concealed Weapon

A Rockland County man, Chaim Gruenzweig, 19, of Airmont, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport and charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the 4^th degree on Monday afternoon, April 8. A TSA officer detected a five-inch knife hidden in Chaim’s belt.
According to the TSA, the officer, who was staffing the X-ray machine, called for a closer look at the belt, which was inside the man’s carry-on bag. Upon closer inspection, it was determined that the knife was actually configured as part of the belt’s buckle in an effort to conceal the fact that it was a weapon.
Gruenzweig, who was originally ticketed to fly to Frankfurt, Germany, was arrested on a local weapons charge by Port Authority Police, who also took possession of the belt-buckle knife combination tool. There was no impact to airport operations.
The TSA offered a reminder to travelers, weapons-including belt-buckle knifes–are not permitted in carry-on baggage. Passengers are responsible for the items they bring to the security checkpoint, and TSA’s advice to passengers is to look through bags thoroughly before coming to the airport to make sure there are no illegal or prohibited items. Travelers can be fined up to $11,000 if they are caught with prohibited items at the airport.
Passengers can review the prohibited items list on the TSA homepage or they can download the free MyTSA application from the TSA homepage. The TSA web site and the MyTSA app have a “Can I Bring?” feature that allows users to type in items they plan to bring on a trip to get an explanation of TSA’s security policies for the item, including whether the item can be taken in carry-on luggage through the security checkpoint, packed in checked baggage, both, or neither.