Not just Nobel Prize winner: 5 most embarrassing incidents at Airport security

Brian Schmidt, the astrophysicist, who won the Nobel prize for Physics this year was grilled at the Transport Security Administration when he tried to take the 24-carat pure gold medal through airport security in Fargo, Nebraska. The incident that followed, was hilarious. The airport security asked the laureate who gave him the gold medal worth $10,000, to which, Schmidt responded: The King of Sweden! But, this was not the first time that such an incident occurred at an airport security. Airport security is a hotbed of embarrassment for many travellers. From unleashed sex toys, to soap powder mistaken for Class A drugs and the discovery of a large collection of pornographic ’literature’–travellers have many such ’embarrassing’ stories to tell. [caption id=“attachment_1601549” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representative purpose only. Associated Press[/caption] Here are the five most embarrassing incidents at Airport security: 1. No nipple rings allowed In 2008, a Texas woman was reportedly forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane. After a hand-held detector beeped when it passed in front of 37-year-old Mandi Hamlin’s chest, her explanation that she had nipple rings didn’t cut it with the female TSA agent. In tears and in front of everyone, she managed to remove one bar-shaped nipple piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring, and had to use pliers. 2. Toys. Not really. A woman travelling with her parents was left red faced when an obvious sex toy was revealed on the screens as it passed through the scanner. 3. That’s not mine An unfortunate male, who was travelling with his girlfriend failed to see the funny side after a pair of underpants complete with ‘obvious skid marks’ was produced from his luggage. He claimed that he did not mean to pack them. But, the damage was done. 4. What kind of powder is that? A clearly OCD lady was confronted by security staff in front of her astonished grandchildren as her package was mistaken for a vast quantity of illegal class A drugs. It turned out to be a bag of soap powder for emergency clothes washing purposes. 5. Charged! One woman was reportedly pulled aside with armed police on standby as the scanner revealed a ‘belt of bullets’. The airport security was relieved and so were the fellow passengers when the ‘belt of bullets’ turned out to be a row of AA batteries.