There could have been a bomb in that diaper! Cops shut down a Newark Airport terminal yesterday after TSA screeners let a baby slip through their security apparatus without being checked, sources said.
The terror scare happened when a woman waiting to go through the metal detectors was allowed to hand her child to her husband, who had already been screened, at 1:05 p.m. in Terminal C, Port Authority police sources said.
Realizing their mistake too late, red-faced TSA agents tried to find the family on their own and waited 40 minutes before notifying Port Authority police, sources said — and then tried to convince cops a shutdown wasn’t necessary.
“Per protocol, the TSA notified Port Authority Police of the situation and pointed out that this was a low-risk situation and indicated that TSA officers were looking for the family in the terminal,” the agency said in a statement.
Cops weren’t taking any chances, and overruled the beleaguered agency, which is already under fire for a recent instances of absent-minded behavior. Police evacuated the terminal and sent in five bomb-detecting dogs, but neither explosives nor the family were found.
“What a waste of resources. This means that other areas within the command were left without K-9 detection so this problem could be addressed,” said one PAPD source.
Mom, dad and baby apparently got on their flight and took off, unaware of the panic they sparked.