A traveler at Indianapolis International Airport allegedly tried to sneak two live smoke grenades past security by burying one inside a jar of peanut butter.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers pulled the checked bag for extra screening after it set off an alarm, according to a June 25 TSA release. A supervisory officer and an explosives specialist searched the luggage and turned up the two devices, one of them wedged into a full peanut butter jar. “After all contents were removed from the bag, I thought, ‘Weren’t there two grenades in this bag?'” explosives specialist Michael Dunphy, an 18-year TSA veteran and former Navy explosive ordnance disposal technician, said in the release.

Indianapolis Airport Authority Police verified that the grenades were live and pulled the passenger aside for questioning, WRTV reported. Officers had paged him back to his airline’s ticket counter after the discovery. The find never disrupted airport operations. (RELATED: DOJ Charges Man With Bringing Explosive Into Sacramento International Airport)

The passenger told officers a friend had tipped him off that hiding the grenades in peanut butter would get them through checked-baggage screening, the TSA release stated.

Last week a traveler flying through Indianapolis International Airport attempted to take two live smoke grenades, one of which was concealed inside of a jar of peanut butter. TSA quickly detected and removed the smoke grenades from the traveler’s checked bag. pic.twitter.com/3EwHEzpqgX

— TSA (@TSA) June 25, 2026

No charges have been announced, Scripps News reported. TSA also declined to say why the man was carrying the grenades or what he planned to do with them, according to NewsNation.

Federal Security Director Aaron Batt warned that concealing banned items tends to bring stiffer penalties, the release said. The agency bars smoke grenades from both checked and carry-on luggage because cabin pressure changes can set them off mid-flight, NewsNation reported. “Although you may not have intentions for something to occur, carrying prohibited items always has the potential for unintentionally causing harm,” Batt said. “Imagine in this case, had the pressurization caused the device to accidentally release smoke filling the cabin and aircraft while in flight.”

For Dunphy, who said he had never come across live smoke grenades in a bag before, the episode ranked as his “most memorable call over the last few years.”