Airline passengers were packing an arsenal this past weekend.
Screeners for the Transportation Security Administration caught nine passengers at the city’s three major airports with illegal weapons or contraband, the agency said yesterday.
“It was a weapons bonanza,” said agency spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.
Between Friday and Monday, TSA screeners assigned to JFK, La Guardia and Newark Liberty airports found passengers carrying weapons such as martial-arts throwing knives, a knife concealed in a walking cane and an illegal handgun.
Six of the incidents led to arrests, one passenger was given a summons and Port Authority police declined to take action in two cases in which prohibited items were confiscated, sources said.
One passenger, apprehended Monday, tried to fly from JFK to Las Vegas with a checked bag full of explosives, illegal fireworks, a set of brass knuckles a machete and marijuana, the sources added.