Found: Box cutter hidden in book
Whoops. He just forgot it was there!
The Clearwater man pleads guilty, saying he had forgotten about the box cutter.
The X-ray image of a box cutter inside Benjamin Baines Jr.’s backpack caught the attention of federal officers Sunday morning at Tampa International Airport.
But it was the packaging that really jolted them: a hollowed-out book that hid the razor-sharp tool. Also inside the backpack: a Koran, a Holy Bible and rap music lyrics referencing police, drugs and guns.
Baines, 21, of Clearwater told investigators he forgot the box cutter was inside the copy of Fear Itself when he packed his bag for a trip to Las Vegas, states a report by Tampa International Airport police.
He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty Monday in Hillsborough County court and received a 30-day jail sentence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is looking into the case but has not filed charges.
“What raises our concern is when an item is artfully concealed,” said Christopher White, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. “It’s different than a box cutter inside a backpack.”
Baines could also face a civil charge, with a fine up to $10,000, for carrying a prohibited item through a checkpoint.
Relatives say he’s a good kid with no previous criminal record.
It was all a misunderstanding, of course–and don’t forget to scream “RACIAL PROFILING!:”
Baines studies various religions, say relatives. They insist he’s no terrorist. “He’s not militant,” said James Layne, a 28-year-old cousin.
“He’s not a crazy blow-yourself-up kind of guy. It’s all a major misunderstanding.”Butler said his nephew forgot the box cutter, which he used at his former job at the Sandpearl, was in the backpack. He recalls his nephew packing the book in a duffle bag that was checked as luggage. The police report tells the story this way. On Sunday, Baines was scheduled to fly Southwest Airlines Flight 338 to Jacksonville at 7:45 a.m., then catch another plane to Las Vegas, where his father lives. He reached security screening at Airside C at 7:30 a.m. An X-ray operator spotted the box cutter.
Another TSA officer found the tool inside a “compartment” within the book. Baines told officers he cut out the pages to keep marijuana and money from being stolen by roommates. Inside the backpack were the Koran and Bible and the books Muhammad in the Bible,The Noble Quran and The Prophet’s Prayer.
The violent rap lyrics, Baines said, were his work. “He stated that rap music lyrics is all lies and that rap music writers have to play the part,” the report states. A national records check found Baines had no criminal convictions.
At an initial hearing Monday, Hillsborough court records show, Baines pleaded guilty to the concealed weapons charge. He wasn’t represented by an attorney, said Butler. TSA and airport officers charged him because “he was black and carrying the Koran,” he said.
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Categories: Airline Security, Racial profiling
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It’s another probe. They happen all the time. Right under our noses.
ACLU in is the jail now. We can’t have a ‘black” carrying a ‘koran’ with a box knife cutter under suspicion now can we? That is profiling!
L
Yeah, I just got back from Vegas and no one said anything about my box cutter, deer skinning blade, shoe bomb, handgun and nitro glycerin stash. Of course being white has its privies…
Anyway…
Great catch at the Airport! I notice he didn’t cut into the Koran to hide the blade…
But it was the packaging that really jolted them: a hollowed-out book that hid the razor-sharp tool. Also inside the backpack: a Koran, a Holy Bible and rap music lyrics referencing police, drugs and guns.
He FORGOT
He should also be fined the equivalent of the cost of an x-ray machine, as i’m sure there is a need for more.
What a cow pie!
But it was the packaging that really jolted them: a hollowed-out book that hid the razor-sharp tool.
oops. I don’t know what happened, the comment posted before I finished it.
There is just no way I can believe that this guy forgot that he had spent time deliberately creating a hollowed-out space in this particular book, and then filled the space with a box-cutter. No way he could have forgotten that.
I know it’s early, but I nominate Ethean “Because he was black and carrying the Koran” Butler for a 2008 FOTY (F’tard of the Year).
Strange that he couldn’t remember that the book was where he stashed his box cutter. And why wasn’t there any marijuana or money in it?
Of course - how silly of me to forget!
I can’t believe the police and the tsa are harassing this poor boy. Ive personally store all my box cutters in books i cut pages out to make them fit easier. They should leave this boy alone and move on to old ladies trying to bring nail clippers on to planes or stopping mothers with infants bringing baby bottle on board. They are the true evildoers.
I forget my box cutter in the hidden compartment of my book all the time, when I go to the airport to be screened…, that is when I’m not keeping my gun in there.
Misunderstanding? Bulls**t!
Now the Koran, a knife in a concealed compartment and trying to board an airplane, after what happened on 9/11, would be what’s called a clue in police work.
You are probably right, letget. The ACLU has probably already been to visit him and is vigorously working to reverse this idiot already being caught, prosecuted and sentenced.
At Least DHS keeps are lettuce prices low!!!
sarc/
I agree with you, Aunursa. He was probing our security. How does one “forget” about a hollow book conceiling a weapon? Forgeting in one’s pocket? Sure. I’ve forgotten that I had my pocket knife many times. He was checking to see if future hijackers can smuggle weapons through security.
Everyone is a “good kid” until they break the law, you relatives. Oops, forgot I had box cutters hidden in a hollowed out book? Son, you need to either jailed for committing a crime, or jailed pending a psych consult for stupidity. When you get caught…go right to the “con”, right?
Dear Warden,
You are right. Salvation lay within.
Sincerely,
Andy Dufresne
*out*
Homeland insecurity? They got him! Homeland security actually got one!
I’m as surprised as you are!
Ummm, sorry. That is not going to pass in my book.
Didn’t a guy just shoot up a school and his girlfriend say something along those lines - not that kind of guy?
Opps, sorry, I forgot to remove my expolsive vest. That does not work either.
If he forgot that the boxcutter was in the book, why was he carrying the book at all? Was he expecting to need a place to hide money and/or marijuana on the plane?
Suppose this might be one of those things that make MO not proud of America?
That Koran thing? That’s just a coincidence. I know lots of non-militant-type guys who carry around Korans and concealed box cutters. You know better than to believe your lyin’ eyes.
Lets see, where have I heard that before?
30 days? Should be 30 years as far as I am concerned - what, we should wait until this nutcase takes down a planeload?
He forgot that the knife was in the book, I guess he had already smoked the marijauna.
Just this morning I was hollowing out a coconut for my crack and a grenade or two, when this story caught my eye. Racists! Getting “pulled over” for carrying a boxcutter in a hollowed out book while being Black! How many times has that happened? This obvious profiling must stop or Ms Obama is going to lose her pride!
He meant to hollow out Highjacking for Dummies.
This kid is not a “militant” everyone has weapons near there holy books. I keep guns right next to my family bible and book of mormon. Though in my case i store the bible and book of mormon in my gun case for safe keeping as both are over a hundred years old.
ROFL - that was just funny!!!
See this is why every morning I make a list of things to do and jobs to complete.
Like today
1) change flat tire on truck
2) hollow out book to hide things in
3) pray to mecca and buy new koran, mine is dirty from cleaning the toilet.
4) shop for groceries that are kosher
5) shoot the nieghbors dog for getting into my trash.
Then as soon as I finish an item I check it off the list.
Serious, they expect us to believe he had no bad intentions what so ever?
You know what ….we have megahead and
megadeath down here with their lawyers
wanting to “throw out the evidence”. They were just making fireworks, you know. Ah, and now they are saying the cops who arrested them were throwing out racial slurs, too. So mister cut a whole in a book and hide it will probably get the same scumbag lawyer(Florida has tons of them) and have the evidence thrown out.
If this was any kind of caring society, a young black man would be able to get a good enough job where he could afford a decent box-cutter container.
Thanks to 7+ years of this criminal administration’s lack of compassion and desire to only serve corporate interests, good, honest young black men are forced to hollow out books instead, and just look at the results.
Yes - We- Can!
/s/ off
Better boxcutter holder today for a better tomarrow.
Maybe we can get the Chinese to build us an acceptable box-cutter holder - doing the jobs Americans can’t!
Like us country folk in Ky say: He’s good people.
Uhh, no, you idiot. You were arrested because you had a boxcutter inside a hollowed out book while going through airport security.
So, my question is; is this guy another want to be terrorist, or is he a grievance monger looking for an excuse to file a discrimination suit?
Jim C
If I was this kid’s uncle - the first thing I would be saying would not be anything having to do with a ‘wrongful’ or ‘racist’ persecution….
It would be, “What the #$%& were you thinking?”
I think his explanation is plausible. You do have to hide your weed from roommates. It’s a reasonable hiding place, and the knife would be the right tool to hollow out the book. Amazing coinkidink to have the Koran there though. But if it was a probe, why have the Koran? It just makes you more suspicious. Simply check for pot residue in the book and that would confirm or deny his story. Oops just spilled the bong. Gotta go.
He was on his way to Vegas. Obviously, he expected to get lucky and needed the box cutter to hollow out a bigger space for his stash.
Where’s Sharpton?
he has the same writers as oblahma, opps that isnt what she meant.
The dog ate my homework… geez
10 years in prison will give him a chance to work on memory skills, this is the same weapon that was used on 9/11 throw the book at this scumbag.
You “crack” me up! Would you get cited for flyin’ while Hawaiian?
No, really, I’m jealous you’re there and I’m not anymore.
I’m no world traveller, but I don’t know many “normal” people who feel the need to carry boxcutters inside hollowed-out books. To think he has the audacity to say he was only arrested because he is black and had a Koran. What an idiot!
Hmm, what does a crazy blow-yourself-up kind of guy look like? It’s not like you can tell one by his track record. I don’t know anyone who has a long history of blowing themselves up. It’s like the guy who refuses to believe his neighbor committed suicide: “Its just not like him. He’s never done anything like this before.” No kidding.
As an aside, when leaving Vegas (I really was just there) I got stuck behind a woman trying to get past the gate with a SS Card and Dr. Perscription.
Since when is the Rx slip a valid form of ID? I swear some people never get to leave the house.
This episode is exemplary of two things. First understanding the Subculture is impossible unless you are in it and second, there is no lack of judges who are to stupid to connect two dots (more dots than this is unreasonablely complex).
Doesn’t everyone have a book like this they take on planes?
Hey, DanVanSmak #15, I love the reference! Good one.
The amount of sarcasm this sneaky dweeb’s antics can conjure up are enormous!
To forget a box cutter in your bag may be easy to do - I’ve done it.
But when you carry a HOLLOWED-OUT book with anything inside - bloody impossible.
This is a man that the TSA can make an example of with a major sentence - perhaps in Gitmo.
I’ll be dipped in something to be dipped in….TSA actually worked for a change.
Now, if anybody worth their salt were on the job, this kid and his whole life would be getting a full on proctoscopy, no lube, thanks. Medical history, pysch profiles, the whole nine. Something about it just doesn’t ring true. I’m forced to agree with the earlier posters and say that I smell a probe. I would also say that the Koran and the Holy Bible are thrown in there to muddle the issue.
Wake up, America. The threat is not half a world away, it is on your doorstep.
TSA has it all wrong. You don’t arrest a black person with a box cutter in a book, with a Koran. You arrest an Middle Easterner with that. You arrest a black person for just carrying a weapon! If you’re doing to do “profiling”, let’s get it right.
So, not only did he have a box-cutter hidden in a hollowed-out book, he was trying to pass through security 15 minutes before the plane took off…seeing as the report didn’t say his backpack contained clothes or personal hygiene items, he must have had checked bags which should put him at the airport 40 minutes (at the very least) before the flight.
Great catch by the TSA x-ray screener.
Nice to know that there’s at least one competent officer out there.
#48 On February 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm, Archon said:
“I’m forced to agree with the earlier posters and say that I smell a probe.”
Agreed…without question.
I don’t know. I think Hanlon’s razor applies. He still needs to face the rap (heh) for concealing a weapon without a permit, of course. But considering this a terrorism probe seems overly paranoid.
The TSA doesn’t sentence people. They don’t do much of anything except make you have to get to the airport an hour earlier and spot about 10% of the weapons that go through their x-ray machines. Gitmo is a military prison. The military isn’t allowed to get involved with law enforcement (forbidden by the Posse Comitatus Act).
Lameness all the way around….One meat head with a box cutter isn’t going to commandeer anything.
The guy admitted he does pot… he is NOT a good kid!
Just know that no matter what people are willing to fess up to, there’s way more beneath the surface that they’re hiding.
Isn’t this always the case? Isn’t this what they always say? No matter what these guys are found doing, no matter what it is they have done, how many people they hurt or kill…the people that “Know them best” always say some variation of the same thing, summed up right there. Even John Walker Lindh, the `ol “American Taliban”, taken in Afghanistan after trying to kill American soldiers and such…his parents come foreard saying how “misguided” he was…how he was such a good boy and that someone must have misunderstood his intentions and other bull hockey.
Even when they are pulled over near a Naval Base with explosives in the trunk of their car, they are just misunderstood youths on the way to make home-made fireworks because they are just swelling with American pride but got lost along the way…forget all the other evidence to the contrary.
I don’t know what is worse…the fact that these people really think that we are just so stupid that they would insult our intelligence to this degree as to attempt a story such as these?
Or the fact that the Liberal Dirt-bags of this country not only DO buy into these moronic stories, but they fight for these murderous terrorist thugs release and want them to be out into the public, free to kill as many Americans and others as they possibly can…because after all, they are just good kids and misunderstood.
Please, he forgot that the box cutter was in a hollowed out book in his back-pack? Someone should lock up the parents too…just for attempting to think we are that stupid.
Enough is enough already.
Yeah, there looking for a male in NC that was attempting to pickup kids at bus stops, telling them to get in the car…….in Spanish of course.
He was driving a vehicle with that exact expression, “FEAR ITSELF”, on the license plate.
They located the car in a parking lot.
They did a search on the plates….belongs to an illegal. Of course, they cannot locate him.
You can’t check a bag later than 45 minutes before a flight at TIA (I’ve tried, had to catch a later flight). So he would have had to check at or before 7:00am. 7:30am was when he arrived at the security checkpoint. It takes about 5 minutes to get from ticketing to the security checkpoint. A 25 minute wait at security is not unusual. What about the timeline seems suspicious to you?
Also, note that Baines was moving — so that’s why the hollowed out book made the trip. He was bringing everything.
I’m not very happy that it is a plead case and only a misdemeanor. Visualize the aircraft smacking into the Word Trade Center. The people jumping out the windows. No, this has far more reaching implications. What do you think the Saudi’s would have done to one of their own carrying something like this? A fine, a plead? He likely would face capital punishment.
I used to have to write them all the time for those who would need 02 during the flight. Even if you have your own 02 they require a script to get on the plane.
So, just so I get this straight, I can attempt to sneak box cutters on a plain and I only face a misdemeanor? Un Freaking Believable.
I don’t believe I’ve ever taken clothes or personal hygiene items to Vegas…nothing suspicious there.
Homeland Security isn’t so hopeless after all. I just wish they’d stop frisking down the little old ladies. How embarassing….
Riiiiiiiiiight. Had nothing to do with the concealed box cutter.
#58:Mark Jaquith - 15 min just seems like it’s cutting it REALLY close given the airlines typically want everyone on the plane before takeoff and all that. It (like the book) seems suspicious…like he was trying to squeak by.
#62: Aloha Guy - don’t ask, don’t tell?? I’m not asking…
I understand that. Thius lady just had her purse and the Rx as ID. Not to take medication on the plane. Just to prove she was what her SS Card said. Her husband had normal ID.
good catch Russ N.. #50..
this whole thing smells fishy. you can always put these things in your suitcase and you have no problems. you don’t carry an old stash book with you even if there isn’t a boxcutter in it! if there is a hint of mary jane you can be held for drugs those dogs can sniff out a splinters worth of the stuff.
so, he was trying to get through and actually thought that the book would hide the box cutter from the x-ray. stupid is as stupid does. the bible was thrown in as a defense in case he got caught. hey, he studies all religions.
This is one of the most recent examples of how proud I am of my country.
How about you Mrs Obama? Are you just as happy as me that a punk with a hidden weapon was preempted from boarding a plane?
Don’t most Muslims smoke pot? He probably is a progressive rapping Muslim. But I think those x-ray machines are programmed to racially profile people carrying concealed weapons, so the white Christian terrorists get a pass. He might have just been “playing the part” of being an angry black Muslim terrorist. (sarc)
Kill him now!!
“TSA and airport officers charged him because “he was black and carrying the Koran,” he said.”
Oh gawd, here we go again. I’d throw the book at him for that (no pun intended). Besides, you can’t tell what the book is when it’s going through the scanner - they stopped him because he had a concealed weapon, it would not have been until AFTER they stoipped him that they found he was carrying a Koran (and a Bible), so that story just doesn’t fly I’m afraid.
Smells suspiciously like a setup - if he had made it through the checkpoint, what’s the bet he would’ve blabbed to the press how he made it through with a box cutter, but because he got caught, he’s suddenly a victim.
I can’t help but recall two other ‘innocents’ recently caught with weapons ‘by mistake’.
#54
Why don’t you tell that to John Ogonowski? Wait a minute, you can’t. Why? Because John Ogonowski, captain of American Airlines Flight 11, was killed with a box cutter. The killers than commandeered his aircraft and crashed it into the North Tower of the WTC.
I’m a bit confused. Are we now allowed to bring boxcutters onboard planes? We can’t even bring shampoo in a big bottle for goodness sakes! Was he worried his dad was going to take his stash? I don’t think asking questions or questioning the motives of this young man is being paranoid. It’s called vigilance.
Either the “tool” was found inside the book like the TSA said or we believe the uncle who said the guy packed the book and checked it, but left the cutter/tool in his backpack. I don’t personally think this young man is stupid enough to actually use the cutter on the plane, but didn’t he know his bags would be put through the x-ray machine and that it might look a little suspicious considering other items found in his posession?
I smell a lawsuit(see flying imams).
Did he have a round trip ticket?
When was the return flight?
Did he check luggage? No
Why no clothes?
Seriously: He just was looking for a CHANGE and was HOPING he would get the boxcutter thru security.
Well he was flying on Southwest and their peanut bags are hard as hell to open.
He’s more of a nutty, slash-the-flight-crew kinda guy.
yt1300inHtown,
Sounds like all her propellers were not turning.
Take some comfort that although he only got 30 days, you can guarantee that any time he tries to get on a plane in future, he’s going to get the full treatment - rubber gloves and all hopefully.
I’ll stress again since nobody seems to realize it - you can’t tell what the book is when it’s going through the scanner - they stopped him because he had a concealed weapon, it would not have been until AFTER they stopped him that they found he was carrying a Koran (and a Bible), so that ‘black man with a koran’ story just doesn’t work.
Sounds like they’re a Ron Paul supporter. Thanks for reminding us of John Ogonowski. Never forget.
I prefer the pretzels on Airtran! No boxcutter needed.
I think Benjamin Baines needs lessons from this guy.
Lindsey #80, would that be vertical or horizontal? LOL
This guy was nothing more than a rookie. Even if he got on the plane, and waved the box cutter around, there was no way he was going to hijack the plane. He would have never gotten to the pilots, because of the security door and the passengers would never have allowed him to get close to it anyway. Probably like most people, I would have seen it going down and jumped up to stop him. Visions of the towers would have spurned me, and a lot of passengers on. You get on and wave a box cutter and see how many pieces of luggage and other things come flying at your head. Too many people still remember….
The two things that strike me the most about reading this story are:
1. If this is another “probe” of airport security, why isn’t the TSA/FBI squeezing this guy’s head like a pimple to find out who put him up to it? He’s a “little fish.” Who’s the Big Fish he’s acting on behalf of?
2. A boxcutter? Puh-leeze. Memories of United 93 are still fresh enough for passengers and wannabe hijackers alike to know that jumping out of your seat with a boxcutter and a koran only means that everybody else on the plane will rise up en masse and pummel you to death.
Truly this guy is the embodiment of the saying, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Yeah I think you’re right there graysonret (#82) re passengers not taking any cr@p, however who’s to say there wasn’t already one or two other passengers on that plane that made it past security with weapons, but they did not act as one of them had been caught therefore the plane were on alert?
oh nice grammar there.. sheesh sorry
Did he become a member of the ROP in jail? Afterwards, blaming his lot in life on the Great Satan, and evil white cracker that allows him to smoke weed if he wishes?
Just wondering.
The story won’t work for anyone with an IQ over 85, but there is a niche market that will just eat it up.
“the evil white cracker” ..I just pictured a saltine with arms and legs like the Planters peanut man, but red eyes and seriously angry eyebrows.. and then it being dumped in a bowl of chicken soup.
Guess you had to be there.
TexasTiger #87 “The story won’t work for anyone with an IQ over 85, but there is a niche market that will just eat it up.”
Niche? Judging by recent primary results, it would seem to be a whopping big ‘niche’
A bit redundant, don’t you think?
If there has ever been any week or money in there a dog will pick up on it. They should just examine the evidence real carefully. If no drugs have ever been in there, he is a terrorist.
I am among those that owuld rise up and beat the living *&%$ out of this guy if he tried anything. I guess he’s forgotten what happened to Richard Reid. Reid got the crap beat out of him when he tried to light the explosives in his running shoes off. Anyone who tries this kind of stuff any more stands a siginificant risk of leaving the plane in a body bag.
I still wonder — given the stupidity of his apparent plan and his comment about being arrested because he’s black and carrying a Koran — if he’s another grievance monger looking for a reason to sue the TSA, the airline, and “John Doe” passengers (as was said above… think flying Imams).
Jim C
that was supposed to be “weed” not “week”.
But, the story is anything other than the black American terrorist.
Right nyc123me?
I wonder if he was also a member of thischurch as well.
Of course Leatherneck, that would be racist.
Hey hey! Don’t be like that guys. I For one Always cut holes into random books to hide weapons when ever I see fit. More so when I’m on a plane!
On the surface this guy sounds like a liar.
Regardless, anyone who attempts to get through airport security with a box cutter is guilty.
Anyone have Ethean “Because he was black and carrying the Koran” Butler’s e-mail address? I’d like to pass along this self-help video.
What an idiot. Not sure we should give him any more attention.
The TSA snagged my lighter that I “forgot” was in a carry on. Bully for them.
The boxcutter is a chilling reminder, but irrelevant with this moron.
BTW, if they *were* profiling…? GOOD!
I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. Even here there are people willing to excuse and defend this creep and even belittle and deminish the effect of what would have haooened had he been successful in getting the cutter on the plane.
Islam will stop at nothing, and the rely on the stupidity of those such as the ones that defend this gutter-trash in order to succeed. The willingness at which people assist them is nothing short of terrifying in itself.
OK then! Our bad. Let him go.
I’m curious as to where this guy goes to church. I’m betting he’s been “studying” with a local imam, introduced to him by one of his maryjane stealing roommates.
I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I know a lot of tokers, and they really aren’t that smart. He probably DID forget it was there, and he probably left the boxcutter in the book immediately after hollowing it out with said boxcutter.
Pretty ingenius, knowing his smoking buddies would never crack open a book not involving the words “Fear and Loathing…”.
Anyway, the strip search on his next flight anywhere should be amusing. Way to get on the lifetime “watch list”, Benjamin.