TAMPA – A 21-year-old Clearwater man was arrested at Tampa International Airport this weekend after security personnel found a box cutter in a hollowed-out book, authorities said. If convicted, Baines faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for a federal charge of attempting to board an airplane with a concealed dangerous weapon. He is currently serving a 30 day sentence after pleading guilty Monday to a state misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon. About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, airport security ran Benjamin Baines Jr.’s backpack through an X-ray machine and saw the image of a box cutter, according to a report from the Transportation Security Administration. When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled “Fear Itself.” The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.
After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates. Officers found books in the backpack titled “Muhammad in the Bible,” “The Prophet’s Prayer” and “The Noble Qur’an.” He also had a copy of the Quran and the Bible.
Several sheets of paper in the backpack included rap lyrics that referred to police, narcotics, weapons and killing. Baines told officers he is a rapper who writes his own lyrics and that rap music writers need to “play the part,” the report states.
Benjamin Baines Jr.
Score one for the TSA.
I guess he doesn’t know how X-ray machines work.
Hopefully, security can also catch terrorists that aren’t mentally handicapped.
rap music writers need to “play the part,” And I thought it was just about bangin ho’s and drugs now international terrorism. Is that a step up?
“Several sheets of paper in the backpack included rap lyrics that referred to police, narcotics, weapons and killing.”
Being a whiteboy,I’m not totally sure, but isn’t that sentence just a bit redundant?
A stopped clock is right twice a day.I wonder if a white kid would have made it through?
This guy is very, very stupid. I bet he though the book would block the x-ray. Now I wonder what he meant to do with the box cutter? I hope that he was doing this for bragging rights, because he couldn’t hijack a plane with one anymore.
Well, it did get him extended free room and board…
#4. So you think he was singled out by race, or maybe they actually saw the box cutter on the x-ray. Cripes!
He won’t see the light of day for long time.
He should have put it in his shoe.
An unhappy, possibly psychotic young guy who now faces years in prison for pushing all the wrong buttons. Has he ever actually hurt anyone? The article doesn’t say.
hmmm, I had a dream part of the spy satellite landed through my roof broke my shelving and rested upon The Black Book of Communism. I woke up to find ice raining from the sky.
[I’m sorry. What? – ed.]
But what was he planning to do with it?
This looks like a setup to boost TSA’s quality rating.
#1 – Being mentally handicapped is a requirement for writing gansta rap. Otherwise I’m with you, I hope the TSA can catch smarter ones too.
for all this persons intelligence…
He could have placed it in the BINDER of the book.
In his SHOE, as many HAVE metal in them for support.
If you really want to ASK the questions…How about THESE.
HOw many people have they CAUGHT?
How many TESTS have FAILED, and the security didnt SEE ANYTHING.
In 6 YEARS, they havent caught that many, and MOST were people that DIDNT KNOW, that you couldnt TAKE that on a PLANE.
Think and THINK HARD…
SCAN for metal objects,
THEN OPEN the pack to see whats in it.
EVERYTHING HE HAD, would have put him in the BACK ROOM, WAITING for the cops.
Makes me think this was a PLANT, to make the TSA look good. To make US/You and ME, THINK that THIS IS WORKING, and “THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE”.
dont you THINK these folks KNOW BETTER?
Its easier to WAIT, and let us THINK they are still doing something. Until we STOP, or get LAZY, and THEN hit us again.
A soldier that stands guard every nite, OVER AND OVER, ends up sleeping at the post.
Are you kidding #4? Playing the race card? I guess it doesn’t matter that an inordinately high percentage of blacks are the perpetrators of crimes, or were most of them just setup? I think not.
If it were a white kid, he would be strung up by the testes as well.
This guy should be charged with Felony Stupidity.
Is this guy a Canadian?
And why is the cut out so big in the book? At first it was reported that he had a bottle of holy water in the book, now it’s a box cutter! Did one of those stupid illegal nonenglish speaking TSA people get it wrong?
“Oh My Allah come quick look see this black man has unholy water” or maybe it was a big white dildo and the security officer wanted to keep it so he swapped with a box cutter.
This just in.
The TSA is now confiscating all books at airport security.
You heard it hear first.
Am I the only one who thinks the book title is beyond ironic?
… besides, box cutters are so 911.
It proves he’s a goofball. You can bet that the real terrorists are planning on hitting is in a novel, unexpected way. That’s how they do.
#9 I’m sure you are fine with this guy doing whatever he wants until he hurts you and then we will hear “Why didn’t anyone connect the dots?”
#14 So we don’t need the soldier that stands guard night after night? Also, thanks for all the caps, it really made me THINK and THINK HARD.
not that it means anything – but mr dumb shit probably used the same box cutter to acrually make the stash spot, smoked some killer green and forgot the knife in the book.
he’s still guilty though
[Bingo! – ed.]
Boxcutter: Weapon of choice for ‘tards.
Considering the number of people over the years that have accidentally carried on handguns in their carry-on, I doubt he will get much more than a stiff fine.
Given the choice, I would prefer to meet the hijacker with a knife than with a gun.
He’s trying to smuggle the box cutter? Then why is there a big cut out in the book? The knife can fit into the book without cutting anything out, just slip it in between the pages. Part of this story is missing. What did he really have hidden in the book? And where is it? It looks to me like the box cutter is what he used to cut the book, not what he was trying to smuggle.
#26 – He was trying to get some shampoo through TSA security but inadvertently put the box cutter in after using it to cut the book. Shit like this happens to me all the time.
#9 jim h:
I don’t know. Why don’t you invite him to live with you? You can promise the gov’t that you’ll be responsible for anyone he subsequently harms.
Are you willing?
#29, patrick
Why should Jim be responsible for someone else’s behavior? He raised a valid question and you slam him for it.
Ooopps, I got it. Black guy, so just lock the guy up for many years and we won’t worry about him. Of coarse if he was white, we wouldn’t worry about this because a small fine would work.
He must have had some important boxes to open during the flight.
He was still in the process of hollowing out the book and left the box cutter inside. This guy is an idiot, but for different reasons than given here. He didn’t even remember the box cutter was in the book, I’ll bet.