A 23-year-old traveler from Indiana was busted at Newark Airport Wednesday evening after TSA officers spotted a Soviet-style AK-47 assault rilfe and 70 rounds of ammo packed in his luggage, authorities said.
The incident unfolded at about 6:40 p.m., when Adam Urbano, of Valparaiso, was arrested by Port Authority cops after TSA agents found the weapon during a routine screening of his luggage prior to his boarding a Southwest Airlines flight for Chicago, sources said.
A further check revealed the weapon, manufactured by Ohio Ordinance Work, with a folding stock, inside a soft gun case. There were also three magazines with the gun, two containing a maximum of 30 rounds and the third containing 10 more rounds.
Urbano had no paperwork for the rifle and had not declared it to airline officials and claimed he had purchased the gun for “recreational purposes.”
He was charged with the illegal possession of an assault rifle and prohibited possession of large capacity ammunition magazines and was facing arraignment today.
His arrest follows similar arrests at JFK and LaGuardia Airports earlier this month.