ATLANTA — Nearly a dozen guns hidden inside one man’s luggage bound for an international flight from Atlanta has left one French man facing charges and a Delta employee facing suspension.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne says that according to the account of an agent for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in a federal document, Kenan L’Homme checked two bags for his Delta flight and those bags were sent to a TSA security screening area.
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The same agent says that TSA agents became suspicious after watching his luggage move through scanners at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Agents found a piece of a karaoke machine in one bag and the speaker to the karaoke machine in the other. Both karaoke machine pieces were opened up and nine handguns were found inside, as well as two AR/M-4 lower units. Each of them was wrapped in aluminum foil, which he told agents he did to avoid detection.
Winne learned that an AR/M-4 lower unit typically refers to the receiver portion of an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle.
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Sources told Winne that L’Homme was traveling with a Delta employee, who is a close relative, when he was stopped.
The HSI agent’s report goes on to say that Delta Security and Atlanta police asked L’Homme to come to their office voluntarily, where he was met by two ATF special agents.
L’Homme reportedly admitted to the agents that he was taking the firearms to Saint Maarten to resell them for a profit. He said he bought them from the trunk of a car in Newnan.
He did not place the barrels of the firearms into his luggage because the supplier told him that would make exporting them illegal.
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The HSI agent’s report also states that L’Homme was aware that exporting the firearms was illegal.
A Delta spokesperson released a statement saying that the employee in question has been placed on suspension pending an investigation. Their statement also said, “Delta is aware of the incident and we’re cooperating with law enforcement and TSA officials.”
Winne reached out to an attorney representing L’Homme for a statement, but did not hear back.
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