“The device was detected during a routine check of checked baggage” Monday at Lehigh Valley International Airport, in the east of the country, said the US Transportation Security Agency (TSA) in a statement.
“The suitcase triggered an alarm when it entered the baggage screening device”, prompting an agent to inspect its contents, details the same source.
After examining this circular device, hidden in the lining of the suitcase, the federal police determined that it was indeed an explosive device in the form of powder, which could correspond to a substance used in fires. artifice, according to the complaint filed by the FBI, published by the Axios site.
The luggage also contained a can of butane, a gas used mainly as fuel, a lighter and a pipe with residues of white powder, the FBI said in the court document.
The suspect, identified as Mark Muffley by police, was to be on a flight to Orlando, Florida.
Mr Muffley had left the airport on Monday after an announcement asking him to come to the security office and was arrested by police a few hours later.