US traveler allowed to fly on after 19 live rounds found in luggage at Incheon airport
Screeners at South Korea's Incheon International Airport found 19 live 9mm rounds and an ammunition magazine in an American transit passenger's luggage, but police let the traveler fly on to Shanghai.
On Tuesday evening, security screening at Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport in South Korea revealed an alarming discovery: 19 live rounds of ammunition concealed in the luggage of a U.S. traveler. The 40-year-old individual was en route from Washington to Shanghai, with a layover in Incheon. Following a collaborative investigation with military authorities, the police concluded that there was no indication of a terrorist threat or criminal activity.
They proceeded to confiscate the rounds and the magazine, subsequently closing the case. The passenger was permitted to continue their journey to Shanghai on the same day, as confirmed by a police official. The traveler disclosed to the authorities that the bag, typically employed for sport shooting, had contained the rounds, which had been inadvertently left behind during packing.
This incident echoes a similar case from September 15, where a .38-caliber handgun and 16 live rounds were found in a checked bag of an American woman flying from Dallas to Hanoi via Incheon. The woman, unaware of the firearm's presence, had it acquired from her mother for personal defense. Police, with her consent, recovered the gun and ammunition.
According to data released in September by the Incheon International Airport Corp., live ammunition constituted 957 out of the 1,473 security threat items detected at Incheon International Airport between 2023 and 2025, with 283 of those instances occurring in 2025.
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